


Out of the Cold Rock

by TheTragicNoir



Series: Chronicles of Remnant: Team JAQK [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Action/Adventure, Alliances, Crimes & Criminals, Drama, Escape, Gen, Prison, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-05-17 08:31:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14828879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTragicNoir/pseuds/TheTragicNoir
Summary: After ending up in a prison from Atlas, Neopolitan wants to escape and find her partner in crime, Roman Torchwick. With a warden of a dictator and the kingdom's borders closing their walls, she is forced to work with another dangerous criminal to come up with an escape plan before Atlas becomes a prison outside of another. This is one of many other stories in Remnant.





	1. No Kingdom for Young Lads

**Author's Note:**

> Now we are entering to more dangerous territory as more obstacles are getting on the way where no one is a good person.  
> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

The Fall of Beacon marked the beginning of the problems on the other kingdoms of Remnant. While the inhabitants of Vale suffered the most, the reputation of the military forces in Atlas went 180 degrees from the most reliable to the most dangerous and untrusty people after Atlesian robots became controlled and destroyed everything on sight. That kind of humiliation drove James Ironwood, General of Atlas Army and Headmaster of Atlas Academy; too huge levels of stress that people started to think he might be going crazy and paranoiac.

On the Atlas Prison of maximum security where they kept the most dangerous criminals in Remnant to prosecute and reform, Neopolitan was already trapped in there for months after she went flying during the Fall of Beacon in a fight. As she got caught and threw on the prison by Atlas military as she was Roman’s Torchwick partner in crime. Life felt solitary for her since she couldn’t get any information about Roman or his whereabouts.

She was sitting on while drinking tea on her personalized cell along with other dangerous and crazy criminals as the security became more agitated than usual. She heard rumors about a new prisoner coming to be part of the collection of bad guys from murders to criminal masterminds. This prisoner was none of that, as Neo kept listening to the rumors about this dangerous person.

“Open the door, prisoner 678 coming!” The security guard called to another as they were escorting that criminal to his cell. The prisoner was pretty tall and muscular with red-orange paint on his face, two scars on the left side of his jaw, and shaved head. He was transported on some sort of hand truck with chains on him attached. The guards threw him inside of another cell, right in front of Neo. The chains were detached with control remote and he stretched his limbs.

“Now, General Ironwood wants to talk with you later, better get your sleep before he comes.” The guards left the area as the prisoner started to lie on his bunk without saying a word.

Neo observed him in a way that he looked average compared to the rest of the inmates in the prison. Another prisoner next to him tried to knock to his wall as trying to call him.

“Yo, are you awake?” The prisoner next to 678 tried to get his attention, but the other one didn’t respond. “Hey, are you awake?” He knocked again, much to 678’s annoyance. “Yo man are you…?”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!” Prisoner 678 yell at him, he got angry pretty fast. “I’m trying to sleep, what do you want?”

“What you did? I mean, what was the reason you got here?”

“Who cares? Just shut your mouth and let me sleep already…” 678 tried to get comfortable in his place, Neo kept observing the show as she was drinking her tea.

“Why the General wants to see you? I’m pretty curious about what you…”

“ENOUGH!” He jumped from his bunk while looking at the wall. “Look… buddy, I’m not in the mood to make some chit-chat with anyone. I was freezing outside hours ago and I didn’t get enough sleep. If you want to conserve your tongue, I suggest you shut your fricking mouth and LET ME SLEEP!” He turned his head as he saw Neo laughing at the scene. “What are you looking at?” He said as he went back to sleep, not wanting anyone to disturb him again.

The other prisoner stops talking while dealing with his own business, Neo kept looking as something caught her interest from 678. Whatever Ironwood wanted with him, which must be something important. Neo was done with her tea as she started to play some classical music with her own music player right inside her cell. The music was pretty loud as it can be heard from any other cell on the same floor. That started to bother 678 as he couldn’t sleep due to the music.

Neo was sitting while containing her laugh while looking at 678’s cell. Watching what his reaction will be since looked the kind of person to easily break apart. He was getting more irritated as he kept listening to the music; Neo turned the volume up gradually as the notes were getting stronger and louder. 678 left his bunk while looking at Neo from the other side of the hall with the face of a madman.

“You, could you turn that damn thing off?” Despite his request, she kept increasing the volume of the music. “Are you doing that on purpose? You are pretty lucky I’m stuck here because I would destroy that thing.” He grabbed his pillow to cover his ears and getting back to his bunk. “By the way, your taste in music is trash. Sanserif was never good if you could play Bogart or Caruso that would be much better than that thing is playing right now.” He started to refer different musicians from classical music, much to Neo’s surprise.

“Prisoner 678, you have a special visit.” The guard spoke through the speaker as he let a really tall man with a military uniform and other two bodyguard soldiers waiting on the hall. Someone grabbed a chair to let him sit in front of 678’s cell, as he looked pretty strict. The prisoner didn’t even bother to sit properly or look at his eyes.

“Hello, Heartstone… how are you going lately?” The man spoke, but 678 didn’t respond. “I always imagined you would end this way if you kept acting like that.” He still didn’t get any answer from him.

“Hey! Say something when the General is asking you!” One of his bodyguards knocked to the cell with an upset attitude.

“It’s alright; don’t expect a troublemaker like him to act. I’m sure nobody liked him at home.”

“Save the mind games for yourself ‘Tinman,’ because if you are waiting for me to talk or something you are wasting your time.” He was behaving rudely to the General.

“Getting to the point as always, then let me ask you something. Where are your teammates, Heartstone? More importantly, where is your leader?” Ironwood dropped the friendly tone as he started asking the prisoner.

“I got your two answers: You get _nada_ and zero. Not satisfied? Good…”

“Why you have to make things complicated for you? You know you will be labeled as an accomplice for trying to cover his crimes.”

“Hmph, like he ever gets some respect from any person in whole Atlas. You know very well what kind of person he is and yet you still think he is guilty.” The prisoner stood as how mad was about the General was trash talking about his leader. “Tell me something bucket-head; if you were in his shoes you would do everything necessary to clear your own damn name. But since you are not being treated like the lowest thing in life, you don’t care who is and if it was true or not.”

“I’m demanding justice!”

“You are demanding results! You know he was one of the most prominent students in Atlas Academy as he accomplished missions perfectly, he got the highest grades and yet because of one little thing he didn’t do still think he deserves it.” He started to lie on his bunk again, as only showing his back to the General. “Now if you excuse me, General. I won't go back to sleep since you are so inept to even get the real culprit.”

“Fine then, I have to attend to a party to the Schnee Manor anyways. I will be back soon.” The Ironwood left the prison area along with his bodyguards.

Neo’s curiosity grew for each second as this person being called ‘Heartstone’ was being interrogated by the General himself, as the other prisoners started to murmur and commenting about this new popularity from fresh meat. She looked around if there was a way to attract Heartstone’s attention, as she grabbed a pencil and started to tap against the glass from her cell. “…. ..” She kept tapping the same pattern while waiting for his reaction. “…. ..” The noise was making Heartstone’s blood to boil.

“Why is nobody letting me sleep already…!?” He sat on his bunk while looking at Neo. “*sigh* what do you want now!?”

“…. .. .. -- -. . ---” The prisoner got confused as he couldn’t understand why she didn’t talk like a normal person. The taps started to make sense as he listened carefully. (Hi I’m Neo) She was speaking on Morse code.

“Oh yeah? I don’t care…” He turned his back as he was trying to sleep.

(I know a way out) She tapped on the glass.

“Good look with that.” He replied while still trying to ignore her.

(Don’t you want to escape too?)

“No…” He said it bluntly.

(Why not…?)

“Does it matter? I’m not going anywhere at the moment.”

(But don’t you want to help your leader?) Neo’s ‘comment’ really annoyed him.

“Look, I don’t know how much you heard from ‘Major Metal-Head’ moments ago, but let me make this clear that is none of your business alright? I’m not going to leave this place just yet. If you have such hurry to leave, then do it without me because I won’t risk my life for you, or the guy next to me, or anyone in this fricking prison. So that being said, LET ME GET MY GODDAMN SLEEP!” Everyone went quiet around, as for how easy was to get him angry with everything. Of course, Neo noticed that he was new so there was a process to make him understand pretty quickly.

(Well, good luck with your date) She tapped once more as she decided to play her music again.

“Date…? What the hell are you talking about?” As he was unaware of the situation, the guard called him to put stand up and put his hand on the glass. As more guards came and put some chains around him to take him. “Where the hell are we going?” He asked as they were moving him away from his cell. Neo kept smiling as she knew where they were taking him. She decided to grab a book as waiting for something to happen.

He was being carried to a room with some machine and bed with leather straps around. Heartstone already got the idea of what was all about. He saw an old man with a medical coat and a harmonic smile. “Hello, I’m Doctor Zinc, your warden, and psychiatrist from this place.”

“And should I feel honored to meet you in person? Because I’m definitely not in the slightest…”

“Ho, you look like someone from interest.” He took some Scroll to check information about the prisoner, redacting to make sure if it is the right. “From what I'm surprised to see, Mr. Quinn Heartstone, you are a pretty peculiar case I haven’t seen since months ago. Not self-control, disobedience from authority, desertion, anger issues, and my favorite being a total vagrant.”

“Oh, you forgot about ‘hating everyone here’ thing too.” He commented as he was being put on the table, being unable to move.

“Don’t worry; I’ll make sure to fix all those problems.” The warden dragged a machine across the room. The prisoner saw the kind of equipment he had and its purpose.

“Can’t you be a bit more original? Therapy of electro-shocks is such a cliché nowadays.” He couldn’t stop opening his mouth as they were putting some weird headgear with a cable around. “Also, you are wasting your time as my Semblance won’t let you do any progress on me, Doc.”

“It seems someone didn’t explain you a few things when you came here.” The doctor was pointing out the collar which the prisoner was already wearing it. “You may not know this thing but it will nullify the Aura from anyone, therefore unable to let you use your Semblance. Isn’t it magnificent the technology from Atlas?”

“Meh…” The prisoner didn’t care for whatever the doctor was talking about.

“Not impressed? How can’t you see the advancements of what this kingdom has accomplished in recent years? Don’t you think this kind of technology can change people’s lives?”

“Blah blah blah, I get it already! Man, I thought Ace never shuts up with his never stopping mouth.”

“Such unrespectful man, now I’m getting rather mad with you. You may think this is such a passé, but it always works no matter the time we live in. Allow me to give you a little demonstration.” He turned on the machine and adjusted it to level 3, making the prisoner to getting electrocuted to his head.

“GHHHHHHH…!” Quinn tried to contain the pain from the machine, he felt like it wasn’t level 3 due to how painful the charge was.

“Now convinced?” The doctor said it with the lips up and doing a mocking tone.

“You have to do something better than that! It barely makes me tickled.” He felt pretty exhausted, yet he couldn’t stop running his mouth.

“If it is what you wish…” He increased the level to 6; Quinn started screaming in pain as the rest of the prisoners were able to hear it. Meanwhile, Neo increased the volume of her music to cover the screams while reading her book. The music was playing Caruso with the piano notes getting faster along with the singer reaching a more pitched note. The place started to get some loose lights due to the effects of the machine as it consumed a lot of electricity, minus well provoke a blackout if it is possible.

It was already two hours since Quinn got inside that room for the therapy. He was getting tired and almost unable to speak. “What? Out of words already…?” The prisoner didn’t reply or even paid attention to what the warrant asked him. “See? I told you this therapy always works. Now you won’t need to say anything that would make me upset with you. That’s all for today.” He asked the other guards to release him and take him back to his cell. They didn’t need to carry him or else since he wasn’t able to stand on his own feet. Neo saw him as many surprises as he was able to endure for so long than any other prisoner present.

Quinn was on his bed, finally sleeping as he couldn’t move or yell. Neo decided to turn off the music and let him in peace since it was lights out for everyone. She decided to wait for tomorrow and see how things would go for him on his first day on the prison. She closed her eyes, as feeling tire of how many exciting things came on the same day.

* * *

  _What are you doing here? Stop following me you little brat. Go away already! I told you to stop following me. What the…? What did they do to you? Can’t talk? That sounds rough. Are you not angry what I did to them? Now I’m surprised to meet a little girl like you._

_What is your name? Neopolitan? Huh… I guess I will just call you Neo. You don’t have a home to come back anyway, right? I will just teach everything I know if you want to survive in this world. There are certain rules you must follow first. Break any of them and life will break you. First, you can’t go around in rags, as this business demands image and class. Let me get a tailor for you._

_No no no! Those are clown clothes; you can’t wear something like that in public. Also, you have to carry something with you all the time. I suggest you use something refined and easy to blend in. Huh? Something like me? I don’t know since you must have your own original style, maybe something appropriate for a girl. After we are done getting your clothes, we must start with your training. Don’t disappoint me to on this, Neo._

* * *

 “Alright rise and shine you scum!” The guard woke up the prisoners early in the morning as he was hitting a bucket with a stick, which made a lot of noise. Neo opened her eyes and saw everyone except Quinn leaving their cells. They were forming as they checked if everything was in order. The guard saw Quinn still not out of bed, as they opened his cell and started to smack him with his baton. “Get up 678; this is not a five-star hotel.” The prisoner was slowly getting up, as he was still weak from last night ‘therapy’ due to not being able to recover himself with his Aura.

Quinn got on his line, as the prisoners were divided between them and the less dangerous ones. They had to wake up earlier and start with the routine for the day, there wasn’t a separation between male and female prisoners. It never was necessary for them since they acted like sheep, much to Quinn’s disgust. One of the prisoners got his eye fixed on both Quinn and Neo as if something was bothering him about those two.

They were walking to the dining room, where they got in line to get their breakfast. The food was bland as Quinn recognized the taste as it was the same thing Atlas Academy served for all students. _‘How appropriate…’_ Quinn was thinking as he tasted the food. He was sitting on the corner alone, as he didn’t want to interact with anyone. One of the prisoners sat next to him, much to Quinn’s distaste. “Hello, neighbor…” The prisoner extended his hand to greet him. “…I’m prisoner 677, or Inky if you like it. And you?”

“Nonya…”

“Nonya?” Inky replied to much his confusion.

“None of your business.” Quinn didn’t like the company of him or anyone else.

“Sorry, maybe we started with the wrong leg.”

“I don’t know you, but someone forced me to go with the right one, but still didn’t make my day anyway.” He was checking the food if there wasn’t any hair or something.

“So yesterday you got what everyone calls ‘Shocking Massage’ for two hours, which sounds like a new record in this place.”

“Oh great, my first night and already accomplished something, that is SO refreshing to hear.” Quinn didn’t like how he had to endure the charges from that time.

“I’m not exaggerating; you are the third person to get the longest time to deal with that.”

“Really? And who are the losers from previous records?”

“Him…” Inky pointed with his finger with the guy who he was looking at Quinn earlier. “…and her.” They focused their sight at Neo; Quinn didn’t expect a chick of that size was able to endure the same. “Also that guy, I think he doesn’t like you at all. His name is Bones and is pretty dangerous.”

“Oh is he? I didn’t know that to be honest.” The big guy rolled his eyes as to how obvious things were.

“I know I’m not the best for the conversations, but I’m still curious why Ironwood would want to see you personally.”

“Look, I appreciate all the info and all, but I’m not here to befriends or anything. And I don’t want you to be on my problems alright?” Quinn tried to continue eating his breakfast; Inky tried the same as the talk became sour. As for how the place felt noisy, the dirty looking guy called himself ‘Bones’ left his seat and walked towards where Quinn was eating. Neo was observing the prisoners further om the different table as she was eating like it was a formal dinner.

Bones was getting closer to Quinn as he was furious for something. “You…” He was talking to the big guy.

“What?”

“I don’t like you.”

“Well, I’m not surprised, because you are interrupting my breakfast.” Quinn tried to ignore him, but Bones threw his food aside and falling to the floor. “Oh great, you want to act like a bully or something? I felt there is nothing original about this place anyways.”

Bones closed his hand to make a fist and throwing the first punch to Quinn’s face. Bad news for him, Quinn was unamused of that approach. The big guy countered by punching Bones’ elbow to almost breaking his arm. Quinn threw another punch to by doing an uppercut to the hostile prisoner’s chin. It was clear that no matter where he goes; there was always trouble for the big guy. The rest of the prisoners arranged the tables in a circle around those two. A fight began on the dining room.

**Prisoner 674 and Complete Douche:**

**Bones**

Quinn engaged in combat with Bones, as he started to doing kicks and using capoeira while the big guy dodged the attacks and used boxing to deliver hard punches. It was much a fighting much than a prison brawl as both fighters already trained on their respective styles. Bones was pretty fast for Quinn, but that would stop from countering him and brutally grab him and destroy his kneecaps. Bones resisted some of the blows but knew that getting near him was dangerous enough.

Quinn had to guard and observing his pattern, as he knew his opponent was definitely not a simple thug. The kicks he launched to Quinn as he had to block and even punch them back by applying simple physics: no matter from where the big guy was getting attacked, he will always deliver a stronger strike back to break his legs. Bones was grasping a little about his way of thinking, as he started to go for a submission and grabbing Quinn to doing power bombs.

The big guy didn’t expect to switch styles, making him go for the defensive approach and trying to counter-attack. The moment Bones stopped the punches with his palms, Quinn literally used his head to do a head-butt on his opponent’s nose, breaking it in the process. It was getting exhausting as both of them couldn’t use their Auras. No matter what they did to each other, it looked like the fight would never end.

“Alright, the show is over.” The warrant interrupted the fight as two guards shot paralyzing bullets to both of them, separating from each other. The fight didn’t last long enough, which made Neo get bored quickly. “Take them to their cells for therapy.” The warrant ordered while looking around as the other prisoners were in fear of him.

**Bones: Unfinished Business and Seeking Revenge**

Neo was look eating at everything while never leaving her seat. Much to her amusement, things won’t end well if she doesn’t escape as soon as possible. Everyone returned to their cells while Quinn was already on the bed from the therapy room, getting his electro-shocks already in the morning. He started to think the place worse than a simple prison, more like an asylum since he was surrounded by crazy people like himself. Everything he does or goes just became sore eyes for him. _‘I’m getting really tired of this place, not even Atlas Academy was such a hellhole already.’_

* * *

 After 40 minutes of torture, he was thrown back to his cell with at least not as bad as before. He was trying to stand up but his shoulders felt heavier than usual. Despite everything happening to him lately, he still refused to leave the prison. Neo was looking at him; out of shame for as for how stupid that prisoner was by not considering her offer.  She started to tap against the glass to make sure if he is still alive.

(Enjoying the stay?)

“Yeah keep laughing at me; it was still nothing compared to what I endured before.” He sounded pretty confident of himself.

(Are you sure about it?)

“About what…?”

(Not escaping.)

“I told you already, I have no plans to leave this place.” Quinn was giving his back to Neo, like not wanting to talk anymore.

“Prisoner 678, you have a visit.” The guard spoke through the speaker, with General Ironwood returning once with his bodyguards. They get into their places like the previous night, with him using the chair while trying to speak with Quinn.

“Hello, again Heartstone. How are you doing now?” The General tried to the friendly approach again.

“Much better than dealing with your rules, that is for sure.”

“Really? I heard you got into a fight on your first day. I have to say I wouldn’t be surprised that you asked for trouble so soon.”

“Well for your information ‘Loose Screw,’ the guy started to fight, I was trying to enjoy my breakfast.”

“Well don’t expect to be the last time the more you stay here.”

“So what exactly you have on mind? That sounds like I don’t really this place anyways.”

“I can help you to leave this place sooner if you cooperate with me and tell where the rest of your teammates are,” General asked straight up without any more subtlety.

“Oh really than let me tell you something.” He tried to stand up as he put his hand against the wall to maintain his balance. “With all respect General, you can bite me because I can be a lot of things but not a fricking weasel like the rest of the military. Now just leave me alone.” He got back to his bunk, leaving Ironwood without any more question.

“Very well, you can stay here and get rotten in this place. I was expecting much better of you, Heartstone.” He grabbed the chair to put it back in his place.

“No, you never did.”

Before moving on he got closer to the glass to say one last thing to Quinn. “Just to give you some info in case you are planning to escape from this prison, I will close Atlas’ borders.”

“And why you are telling that?”

“I fear there is the biggest threat coming to us, and I won’t let any person get in or out of this kingdom as long that threat is out there, somewhere.”

“So that is true those rumors about your paranoia, and I thought the greatest and almighty General was such a just and composed man. Well, it really shows how desperate you are right now. Are you done? Because today felt like a long day for me, enjoy being protected by those walls filled with snobs and high-class pricks in this forsaken kingdom.”  General left the place, leaving with the rest of the prisoners talking about the possible shut down in Atlas.

Quinn was lying in his bunk again, thinking about the idea of the walls closing. He was in a race against the clock since he still needs to accomplish something important and return with his teammates. If he doesn’t do that before the shutdown, he won’t be able to save his leader. Thinking about different possibilities, he understood that his chances of escaping alone were zero.

“Hey what did the General say to you again?”

“Shut up Inky, I’m trying to think of something important right now.” He looked at his surroundings, as he remembered something about the girl from his front cell offered to him. He tried to tap the glass to get her attention, as she was reading a book while drinking tea.

She turned her head towards Quinn, starting to pay attention to what he had to say.

“Hey uh, …what was her name…” He was mumbling while trying to recall her name. “Neo, wasn’t it?” She nodded at him.

“Do you still want to leave this hellhole?”

She nodded again while doing a cheery smile.

“Are you really going to do it?” Inky asked his neighbor, surprised he was considering it. “Include me in this too.”

“Shut up, palooka.” Quinn was standing next to the glass with his fist to knock to the glass, speaking in Morse code. (I’m all fricking in!) Neo, Quinn, and Inky formed an alliance to escape as soon as possible before Atlas becomes their next prison.


	2. No Break for the Beast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, it took me too much time to even write something good. Sorry for the wait but summer is not really easy when it comes to important things in my life right now. Enjoy the chapter.  
> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

It was free-time, all prisoners got an hour of activities inside a recreation room to play games, do some hobbies, or trying not to kill each other in the meantime. While everyone was busy, Neo, Quinn, and Inky sat on a table with chessboards. Neo was writing something on pieces of paper while Quinn and Inky were looking to the rest of the prisoners minding their own business.

“Look at them, behaving like sheep as they are an unable act by themselves,” Quinn commented.

“That is the effect of the therapy; people with strong minds are able to resist it. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t lucky enough. That leaves us to me, you, her, and partially Bones since we are still aware of everything around us.” Inky was explaining everything around the prison.

“I mean, what is Doc expecting to reform criminals? No matter what method he is trying, you can’t make them hide who they really are.”

“Are you saying it is fine to be a danger for society?” Inky got his eyes wide open of Quinn’s way of thinking.

“What I’m saying is one can’t brainwash anyone, good or evil.” Quinn looked at disappointment towards the prisoners. “I can’t believe society is alive with this kind of people.”

“I guess they are driven by fear…”

“Or ignorance, either way, they are doomed from the get-go.” As Quinn and Inky were done talking, they focused their attention on Neo again as she was done labeling the chess pieces. She put names on each white piece: The King (Dr. Zinc), The Queen (Security Chief), The Bishops (Staff), The Knights (The Atlas Soldiers), The Rooks (Security Guards), The Pawns (Prisoners).

“Hold on a second…Someone is missing.” Inky commented as he looked for the pieces.

“Who is missing?” Quinn replied.

“General Ironwood, why is he not labeled on the board? Shouldn’t he be the king instead?”

“That is simple; he is not a piece, to begin with…”

“Huh?” Inky got a confused look as he didn’t understand what either Neo or Quinn was talking about.

(You should know already the obvious thing right now.) Neo tapped to the table with her pencil on hand.

“He might be the General but he is not part of this place. As you may know the rumors, ‘Mayor Tinman’ is under a lot of problems which he can’t concentrate on everything around the kingdom. Excuse my ‘Vacuonese’ but that includes this house full of assholes, which it doesn’t get any complex than that.” Neo nodded as she arranged all the pieces into position, with drawings from the prison’s layer.

The prison was divided into three different sections, all of them on the 4th floor. The other three floors got regular criminals and staff. The overall building was stuck in small floating island inside of Atlas. It was pretty clear that the only way to escape both the prison and the kingdom was by stealing one of the flying vehicles. That being said, the required steps wouldn’t be easy tasks. The black pieces were only: King (Neo), Queen (Quinn), Pawn (Inky).

“What the…? Why am I the fricking Queen!?” The big guy was definitely not amused.

(You are going to do most the work between us.)

“Hell no! I won’t be the mule here!”

“I mean, the Queen is a pretty powerful piece if you think about it. It doesn’t sound that bad.” Inky’s comment only got Quinn’s death glare in return.

(Enough foolery, focus alright?) Neo kept moving the pieces according to everyone’s routine patterns. The most she highlighted among the rooms were the therapy room and the generator room, where the electricity is running independently. (The Bishops are always going between those rooms only since those are next to each other between walls. The reason for that is because the machine for the therapy consumes a lot of electricity when used at higher levels for longer times.)

“So, you are expecting a blackout, for what exactly?” Quinn asked as Neo started to point the collars with her pencil.

(We need to get those collars out first if we want to escape without anything that might stop us...) Neo tapped as explaining with a diagram of the machine. She then details was pretty vague since those things are pretty complex. (Don’t try to unlock them while still on, if you do…) She crossed the pencil through her neck while doing a horrible expression as she looked lifeless. Quinn and Inky gulped while holding their necks with worrisome.

“Okay, so how do we get those things off then?” Inky asked Neo, she pointed at Quinn by going to the therapy room.

“Are you kidding me? I better kill myself than go back to that mad-scientist lab again!”

(Do you want to escape or not?) Quinn frowned as he took a deep breath and sighed.

“Fffffffff-fine, I will do it. The only condition is to hopefully leave me with that Zinc for myself; I want to make him suffer before leaving this hole.” Neo nodded while smirking.

(Also the blackout has a different purpose besides deactivating the collars.)

“What else it will cause then?” Neo started to redraw the layer, putting all floors with random scribbles with all Pawns positioned like a wall with Knights and Rooks next to them. With how the silent lady showed to the other two guys how they will have to go around them. Quinn couldn’t stop smiling how it was going to be.

“I see…despite I like the plan I’m still not so sure about if it would work or not.”

(Do you doubt about my plan already, big guy?)

“I’m saying that how can be so sure about this? Atlas security does not joke when it comes with that stuff anyways. I won’t go through this unless you already tested it.”

(I’ve been stuck here for months, I checked every single detail in this place and I already escaped from other prisons. If you have any more complains right now, be free because we are running out of time.)

“Grrrrrrr… whatever you say.”

(Good, because the sooner we get with this the better our chances are.)

“Hold on, now? Don’t you want to rehearse or something?” Inky was a little nervous about it her unexpectedly wanting to carry the plan immediately.

(Of course, I will do that first, but that would require making a little test.)

“What kind of test?” Neo grabbed a little dart and threw it to Bones’ back, piercing him.

“Who threw this damn thing!?” He yelled while looking around, Neo passed the blame to Quinn. “So it was you huh? Your ass is mine!” He rushed and leaped towards the big guy.

“Oh, you little sh…” Bones tackled Quinn before he could say anything else to Neo. He was against the wall while being punched repeatedly on the face. Quinn counter-attacked by a knee on the guts. Those two started mayhem around the area, again.

**Prisoner 674 and Wanting a Rematch:**

**Bones**

“Don’t think I didn’t forget about you.” Bones was standing while grabbing the darts with his right hand.

“It wasn’t my fault alright?” Quinn was getting on guard already.

“Shut up, I will get you this time!” The prisoner threw the darts at the big guy; he grabbed a chess board to block them pretty fast.

“*Sigh* I guess reasoning with you is never an option anyways.” He grabbed a stool and started to swing it to Bones like a regular weapon. He was dodging his attacks as the big guy was getting annoyed for his speed. Quinn threw the stool to Bones; he avoided the object but got a really painful jab because he got distracted by it.

Bones start to kick Quinn while being on top of the tables, but he blocked them with just his arms like it was nothing. The big guy grabbed one of Bones’ legs and smashed him against the table. The fight started to cause more destruction than the last time they fought.

Neo tried to hold her laugh while watching the fight. Bones took the legs from the broken chair to use them as weapons. He was able to hit Quinn on the face and chest, but the bid guy got enough and started to get worked up as he was throwing punches and hooks around the place.

The moment Bones tried to hit Quinn with the sticks, he held his arm and broke it from the elbow with a single punch. “Gaaaah! You son of a…” Bones was holding his arm while being in pain.

“Giving up already? I’m getting tired of dealing with you.”

“As if, DIE!!!!” Despite not being already on the edge, Bones rushed towards Quinn for another assault, but the big guy wasn’t impressed as he made another punch on the other prisoner’s face that broke his nose. Bones fell on the floor unconscious.

“Hah! Take that, palooka!” Quinn got a mocking grind while spitting on Bones. He felt a little pinch on his arm like it was a syringe. “What the…?” A guard shot a paralyzing bullet, but it didn’t affect him like the last time. “Oh, nice try but you will need something stronger than that.” The guard shot another paralyzing bullet; Quinn fell unconscious and got dragged by the guards back to his cell while Bones was taking for the nursery.

“What was it, Neo?” Inky asked her of what happened moments ago.

(I’m trying to run an experiment first.) Neo was sitting while taking the chess pieces away from the table. Inky raised an eyebrow of what was coming next for Quinn and Neo’s plan. That was just the beginning.

**Bones: Out of Commission with A Broken Arm.**

“Prisoner 668, Dr. Zinc wants to see you in his office how.” Neo stood up and left the recreation room with some guards escorting her. She entered the office with Zinc already waiting for her.

“It is good to see you again, Miss Neopolitan.” Dr. Zinc greeted Neo as she was called for her usual ‘talk sessions’ of the week. Zinc started to pour some tea for both of them. She was sitting properly while looking at the warden, carefully analyzing her surroundings while listening to his talking. “Want some cookies, perhaps some biscuits to accompany the tea?” Neo boldly refused the snacks.

“So how things have been doing lately for you?” Neo shrugged in response. “You know, I think you are doing great progress since you made a new friend with Mr. Heartstone. You never interacted with any other prisoner from the moment you came here.” Neo was crossing her arms and tried to not care about what he was talking.

“I’m curious if someone like you of why you chose the path of crime; it was poverty… bad influences… perhaps parental abuse? You’re definitely an interesting case; I can’t understand what is inside of your mind. What motivates you to move on? Is it your former partner in crime, Roman Torchwick? You have been working as his personal bodyguard for so many years, and yet it seems that he never came to take you out of here, like a prince rescuing his princess from a tower. I guess love is unrequited after all…” That made Neo jump out of her seat while wanting to strangle Dr. Zinc, but she tried to restrain herself while looking at the guard from outside.

She grabbed the chair back on its place and sat while looking at Dr. Zinc with a fierce look on her eye. “What? Did I say something wrong to you? I guess it’s no surprise that you always get abandoned by the people around you. They always ditch you like old jewelry that lost its shine after so long. Always taking care of oneself, isn’t?” Neo started to look at the floor while Zinc got his eyes on the clock. “Oh my, I guess we are already out of time. I will see you next week at the same hour, Miss Neopolitan.” The guard opened the door to let Neo leave the office and escort her back to her cell.

 _‘Yeah, see you next week, dumbass.’_ Neo was thinking while she walked into the hallway.

* * *

 Meanwhile, in the therapy room, Quinn was already on the table waiting for Zinc to come again and start the procedure. He was looking at the machine; it looked pretty old so far he could tell. Some of the cables went through the wall, which could confirm Neo’s explanation of the generator room next to the therapy room.

Quinn was whistling out of boredom as he was waiting for an hour. _‘Damn that pint-sized psycho chick, it is her fault I’m back on this place again.’_ He was speaking between teeth with his blood boiling for everything bad around him. _‘Don’t come to Atlas they said, you will get arrested at the moment you set foot in there they said. Bah, I do whatever the hell I want. If only they could understand what really means to come back on this frozen kingdom. Now, why is this Doc taking so long to come here?’_

Dr. Zinc came through the door while holding some papers. He walked in circles as something was keeping his mind busy. It was weird to see in that kind of state, as really annoyed Quinn pretty fast. “Hey Doc, do you mind about your morning excises already?”

“Oh excuse me Mr. Heartstone; I got distracted while reading some documents about you.”

“No kidding, my arms are feeling numb for being stuck in this table for an hour. You should get a TV or else because of this place dull.”

“You know, I find something awfully familiar about you, but I can’t recall from where.” Zinc looked closely at the paper, but some information where crossed out or confidential.

“You think so? A lot of people remember me for knowing either my bad side or for spitting on someone else’s face. Did I spit on you before?”

“No…” Quinn spat on Zinc’s face, he wasn’t pleased about it.

“I hope that would help you to remember me better, Doc.” The prisoner smirked while Zinc threw his glasses to the floor while cleaning his face. In fury, the warden took two spheres to put them on each side of Quinn’s head. Those things were connected to the machine, which it became weird for not using the helmet instead.

“I hope you like the Deluxe Pack, Sir…” The charge was in level 7, with sparks jumping around the machine. Slowly, the therapy felt like a psychological horror film as Quinn had to endure for much longer. The lights were losing illumination as almost getting blackout, but the energy returned pretty quickly without affecting the prison. The shocks became worse as the minutes passed by, no breaks between intervals. “Interesting, you are resisting much more than before, let’s take to the next level.” Zinc turned the charge to level 8, the danger zone.

Quinn was suffering so much, yet still able to hold it for much time without losing consciousness. Zinc tried to look at him closer as no normal human or Faunus could take that kind of punishment. They were already there for so long that neither Quinn nor Zinc could tell the hour. “Alright, that is enough…” The warden turned the machine while examining the big guy, the results were unexpected than usual. “…You are still awake, maybe you got used to it already.”

“I guess *pant* you little machine *pant* is losing its juice. *sigh*”

“Nonsense, this thing is one of the most expensive and powerful devices you could get in whole Atlas.”

“Hmph, yeah right…” Quinn was blinking pretty fast, as he was losing the sight.

“You should get back to your cell; I must attend some important matters right now.” Zinc called the guards to take the prisoner out of the room, Zinc was looking at the table while reflecting for a moment. _‘Quinn Heartstone, you really are getting on my nerves.’_

The big guy was thrown to his cell like an animal; Neo was looking while tapping with her pencil to the glass. (Enjoying your stay?)

“Screw you! This is your goddamn fault I got back to that place!” Quinn yelled while punching the glass.

“Dude, you been there for so long, I thought you died or something.”

“Shut the hell up, Inky! And you…What was the big deal to make me go there?”

(Tell me, what level was the charge?)

“Huh?”

(I said what level was the charge?)

“Level 8, maybe…Why caring about it?” Neo was taking a sip of her cup of tea while thinking. “Well? You got anything else to say?”

(You got two hours and a half.)

“So what…? Don’t tell me you want me to get a new record because I’m already wasting my time here.”

(You look better than before.)

“Yeah, no thanks to you…”

(I guess we can carry out our plan, tomorrow.)

“Seriously, what are you talking about!?”

(Don’t you get it? We need a blackout by exploiting that machine.) Quinn just got his lightbulb over his head, as finally knowing what was happening.

“I see, as he is the only one to resist that machine for the longest time, we can take the advantage. Pretty smart move of you lady.” Inky commented in amaze.

“Umm hello? Did you forget I’m the one taking the risk out of everyone here? What exactly do you expect me to make that as I got thus far without dying?”

(I want you to reach level 9, for three hours.)

“Are…You…FRICKING NUTS!? Do you think I want to let ‘Mad Doc’ to fry me like a stupid fish? I refuse to go through that ever again?”

“Are you giving up so soon?” Inky asked, but he jumped in fear after hearing a punch from the other side of the wall.

(Understand this; you are the only person so far to go on that therapy above 7 than any of us here. This is our only chance, do you want to really escape or not?)

“To be honest, I don’t care about escaping, but I want to give some hell to Zinc and see the reaction of Ironwood’s face when I get out of here. I hope you are right about this plan.” Neo couldn’t understand what was inside of Quinn’s head.

They started to mind their own business on each cell, as Quinn was only sleeping with Inky murmuring to himself and Neo just reading with some more classical music on the background. It felt peaceful around when there wasn’t something trying to kill you or else. _‘Odd, Ironwood is not showing up today, I guess he gave up on interrogating me. Fine by me, I won’t be bothered for a while then.’_ Quinn was thinking while relaxing on his bunk.

* * *

 “Ah, it is an honor to see you here in my office, General.” Zinc said while shaking Ironwood’s hand.

“The same thing I could say, doctor. I see you been running this place pretty smoothly despite your most recent ‘patient’.”

“Ah yes, Mr. Heartstone might be quite troublesome, but I’m doing my best to reform him.”

“I hope so because I would like your skills to make him more…cooperative if it is possible.”

“Oh General, I think you don’t understand the process here. Most prisoners aren’t that easy to change their ways, it takes a lot of time to reform someone like him.”

“I suppose…”

“May I, if it not much a problem to ask, what kind of business you have with Mr. Heartstone to make you come here instead of attending many important matters for a person of your rank?”

“I can’t tell you since is confidential and we are trying to not tell to the public.”

“My lips are sealed, General.”

“His team leader, who was a former student of my academy, is a wanted criminal for the death of 50 people.”

“50 people, that sounds terrible.”

“It is, Heartstone probably know where is he hiding and I want to know.”

“And what are you planning to do if you find him?”

“Just like any other criminal, bring it to justice.”

“But that looks a bit strange, why don’t you want to show to the public? It might be easier for you if the people know where this criminal is instead of interrogating one of his teammates.”

“Sorry I can’t do that, doctor.”

“Why not? Is it something wrong to tell one of your st…? Oh, now I understand it.”

“What is it?”

“You don’t want the public to know that Atlas is creating more threats for Remnant. After what happened to your robots, including that little girl in the tournament, you don’t want to put another nail on the coffin for your precious army. While the citizens of Atlas are not a problem, the rest of the world won’t ever trust you ever again if they know that the most dangerous criminal was a former student from Atlas.”

“That’s more complicated than that, doctor.” Ironwood tried to clear things up, with no results.

“Oh really? I think it is pretty clear to me. You already got enough that people may think you as incompetent. Are you trying to fit on your predecessor’s shoes or maybe afraid that your old rival, Colonel Clover might be a much capable person than you right now?”

“How you dare to talk me like one of your prisoners, doctor?”

“I’m just assuming some facts. That’s how reality works, General.” Ironwood frowned while Zinc was sitting with his hand on the desk, smiling. “Now as for how things became pretty dangerous around here, I would like to request more soldiers to patrol to prison.”

“You know I can’t let you do that, we are getting short on personal along with my subordinate, Winter Schnee, is in Mistral to protect in case things will go worse.”

“Huh, I guess. Do you know what would be a real shame General? That Remnant will know as the person that caused the Downfall of Beacon, bringing robots to kill innocents and making robot-girls in disguise. Now that the most dangerous criminal is roaming, is just another student from Atlas. In this age where technology advances faster than people, it would a tragedy if such information ends up leaking to the public. Don’t you think that would be a terrible tragedy?”

“Are you…blackmailing me?”

“Blackmail is an awful word; I want to say is more an ‘insurance’ in order to protect people. More soldiers under my rule would help me to secure this prison and thus making sure no more mistakes will cause problems for you in the future.”

“You are going to regret this, you know that?”

“I’m aware of it, you are fighting for the security of everyone, while I’m trying to run this place and make people free of calamities created by human actions. You don’t want people to turn against you, it is already bad announcing by closing the borders, an economic risk for various private companies. You can call this business.”

“I will try to bring more soldiers here for tomorrow. I hope you are happy with your actions.”

“I’m sure I will be.”

“Have a good day, doctor.” Ironwood stood up and left the office while Zinc started to look at the window by admiring the sky. There is always something to gain from the misery of others.

* * *

  _Rule number 1, always do what I say. You are not good enough to make your own choices and order people around. As you can see, no one cares if you are good or bad, only if you have the means to do things. You have none of that for now, so the most you can do is know how to fight._

_It is quite simple, everybody knows how to fight. There is a fine line between showing dominance over others and being the unlucky guy behind the cashier. Thievery, extortion, murder, all of them required fighting skills as well to survive against the odds. Of course, you need a weapon in order to fight._

_All those self-proclaimed protectors, all Huntsmen are such naïve when doesn’t know anything about self-preservation. Always throwing their lives away thinking that fighting can make this world better. Don’t get fooled by them, their system is so broken and stupid that is nothing but a nuisance for us, the smart ones. Before starting the lesson, I have a gift for you…_

* * *

 Neo woke up as the rest of the prisoner, including Quinn and Inky, left their bunks in order to stand in front of the glass while waiting to open the cells and start the routine. (How is everyone feeling?) She tapped against the glass.

“*Yawn* not so great but I can’t complain much for the moment,” Quinn replied while scratching his head.

“I’m kind of nervous for today; do you think it will work?”

“Relax Inky, just follow Miss Psycho and things will go smooth, I suppose.” The big guy replied as he was stretching his arms.

(We have only one chance, you better be prepared for the worst, do what I say and do not question my instructions.)

“Yeah yeah, I get it. Just don’t nag me if I die by that stupid machine.”

“What are you going to do?” Inky asked Quinn.

“Simple, I just improvise. Mayhem ensues.”

(One last thing, after you cut the electricity, I will get to the vault.)

“Really? You better don’t forget about my stuff, lady.”

“I will try to get some distraction for some guards, just in case,” Inky commented.

(Is everyone ready? It’s show time.) The prisoner left the cells in line. They started to smile while walking toward the workshop. In 5 minutes, chaos will arise inside the Atlas prison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment, opinions if you like it or not.


	3. No Escape for the Condemned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uploaded Autumn Nights to my FF.Net account, so if any of you wants to follow or something there you are welcome.  
> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

The workshop, a place where prisoners tried to use their creativity while operating with dangerous tools, perfect to create chaos anytime. Despite the large selection of hammers, saws, wood, and metal, Quinn wasn’t interested in none of that. He could think of something more creative to shake the room and alerting the guards.

Before the big guy could get into motion, he started to write a note, he knew that after the point of no return there would be no chance to talk with Neo until they were done escaping from the prison. Everyone was minding their own business while the guards were giving an eye on each one of the prisoners. Inky’s hands were shaking and sweaty, he wasn’t sure if this could be the end for him if he screws ups something on the plan.

Neo was just cutting some wood while looking at Quinn; she couldn’t tell why he was writing instead of starting with the plan. The only thing she could assume was that he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to start the show. The big guy was done writing and walked towards her, but he didn’t stop or else. He left the not in front of her as he passed through without looking at her. Neo saved the not without letting anyone looking.

“Hey guard, I’m missing a screwdriver for that table,” Quinn spoke to the guard behind some bars.

“Are you serious? Ask someone else to give you one and don’t bother me again.” It seems he didn’t want to help the big guys for the favor.

“They said they couldn’t find them for some reason.”

“What? Let me see it…” The guard opened the gate while other was aiming at Quinn as he was raising his hands and stepping back. The guard walked across the room to the tool boxes, he found the screwdrivers. “There they are how you couldn’t see them? Are retard or something?”

“Sorry…” Quinn grabbed one as he called the guard again. “Are you sure those things work?”

“What the hell you think are those, give me that!” The guard angrily took the screwdriver from Quinn’s hand to the little demonstration. He disarmed a chair to prove if that was in good condition. “There you go, happy now dumbass?”

“Almost, let me do it myself to make sure.” Quinn grabbed it he was putting the pieces on the table. As the guard was feeling desperate by him, he yawned while closing his eyes. Quinn quickly stabbed the guard’s hand on the table as he was distracted. “Yeah, it definitely works.” The big guy said with a mocking smile as he heard the guard screaming in pain.

Everyone looked in horror as more guards came to the workshop and aimed with the paralyzing rifles. They shot one dart on Quinn’s shoulder but didn’t go down. Another shot again on the same arm, but he wasn’t affected by it.

“You should do something better than that,” Quinn said as he kept taunting them. They shot one more time by in the chest, he fell to the floor.

“You two take him to back to his cell for therapy, and someone else should take this guy to the nursery.” A guard ordered everyone around whiles the prisoners decided to focus on their activity to not cause more trouble. Neo smiled as she saw Quinn taking him away, just as planned. She was tempting to open the note, but it was better to do it when they get back to her cell.

“Do you think he will be alright?” Inky asked as he was still afraid of what Quinn did to the guard.

(It is fine; you just keep waiting for the moment.) Neo tapped on the table, the other guy nodded and went back to his position. There was something odd about Quinn as she started to notice it, how he could resist the effect of the paralysis every time he got shot by it? The same thing could be asked about the therapy. Nonetheless, it was important for him to do his part of the plan. _‘Is this guy even human?’_ She was thinking while acting, as usual, waiting for the moment to arise.

* * *

 “Three days in a row, Mr. Heartstone. Do you know what it means? I’m already reaching my limit on tolerating your actions.” Zinc was certainly unpleased while talking to an already tied Quinn on the table.

“Well excuse me that some of your ‘activities’ in this place are becoming rather boring. When you are running a nuthouse instead of a normal prison like floors below us, it is obvious that I would try to shake things around here.”

“Do you think you can do whatever you please? I’m a really busy man and I don’t like to deal with you every damn time with a brute like you.”

“What’s the matter Doc? No psychological games for me? Aww, I guess you are losing too much of your touch right now.”

“Silence you fool, I guess you are one hard nut to crack. Then I will break you both physically and mentally with this.” Zinc started the machine and charging it at level 9 from the beginning. The electrocution proved to be painful for the big guy, as he tried to endure the pain for much time. It was a horror movie scene as there were sparks jumping around with the machine and the prisoner trying to not lose his mind on the process. The lights around the prisons were acting funny as those were turning off.

“Are you having enough, Mr. Heartstone?” The doctor asked the prisoner while still being electrocuted.

“As if!” Quinn spat on the doctor’s face again, smiling from ear to ear. “I can go for longer time and show you this stupid piece of junk can’t break my mind. Try to do your best, palooka.”

“Grrrr…if you are so eager to die, then I will conceal your death wish.” The warden adjusted all everything from the machine in order to make the prisoner suffer even more. The indicators were moving from left to right while the level of electricity was escalating per second. The prison was losing its energy and the engineers were trying to maintain the generator and keep it running. It was overcharging that it was hard for them to keep track of it.

Despite not reaching the required time as Neo asked for, the plan was still running. The moment the dials on the machine want to danger, the machine along with the generator exploded.

It was lights out.

Meanwhile on the workshop, as the whole prison was out of energy before the backup generators could start acting up, Neo took the opportunity to throw a hammer to a guard, attracting some attention towards her. He opened the cage and went inside to beat Neo.

The moment he swung his stick to her, she shattered like glass, causing so much confusion to him as she disappeared. He turned his head behind him and saw Neo already standing there, hitting him with the same hammer. He fell to the floor while she grabbed the keys to free herself on the rest of the prisoner from the collars.

More guards were coming to stop her, but some prisoners including Inky caught them by surprise as she fought back by dodging the attacks and taking a defensive stance. She couldn’t use her Semblance again until the cool-down was done, but it wasn’t a problem for her since the guards were already falling one by one.

After the last one was defeated, the rest of the prisoners took the weapons and left the unconscious bodies inside the workshop, locked. “Alright freedom, at last, come on everybody let’s start a fire on this place!” Inky ordered everyone and blindly followed him around the prison. Neo went in a different direction as the havoc was unleashed inside the prison.

Neo ran around the halfway while dodging the guards, she kicked some out of her way while others got hurt among themselves as they fell for her tricks. Her first stop was the vault where it was everyone’s belongings.

She attacked a guard from behind while stomping him as he was on the floor. She used the keys to open the room and retrieve her stuff and Quinn’s. She couldn’t find anything from Inky, but it didn’t matter since Quinn got heavy stuff. She took her classy clothes and umbrella while putting the rest inside a bag.

One thing was sure for her, Quinn would need a hand since he was still inside the therapy room.

* * *

 “What is going on inside this place…!? Somebody fix that thing immediately!” Zinc sent the order to the staff with his Scroll while Quinn was stuck on the table. The warden refused to leave the room as it was dangerous at the moment. “Why everyone is being so incompetent right now?”

“Because everyone is under your command, that’s why,” Quinn commented, looking how angry the doctor was.

“And what you could know about commanding people? You don’t care about orders.”

“That’s right, I don’t except for only the ones that earned my respect.” He was really confident, as much to Zinc’s disdain. The doctor started checked on the door if there was someone to help him. There was a guard standing outside of the room. “Finally, some help.”  The doctor opened it and let the guard in. “Look I need you to barricade this door while I try to contact for some help.”

As the doctor went to one side of the room and tried to use his Scroll while the guard obeyed and moved some tables in front of the door. Quinn still attached to the table with not much to do. There was something odd about the guard that he couldn’t get it why the only thing he could feel was a pretty annoyance to it.

“Good, they should come here at any minute.” Zinc was done talking as he started to go to the door. While it was well barricaded, he noticed that the guard was shorter in height than the others as he knew his own staff. “I don’t recognize you, who are you?” As the guard’s head turned around to see the doctor, only evading a slash in the niche of time.

The guard was getting closer with a dagger in the right hand; Zinc was walking away out of fear as he knew the guard was a faker. Got closer for each second, he couldn’t know what person was impersonating one of them.

The fear surrounded him as for how close was getting at until stopped next to the table where Quinn was. With the same dagger, the guard cut the belts that were holding the big guy. “Thanks but who the hell are you?” Quinn asked as the guard pulled out a Scroll on the other hand.

*Click*

As the clothing was changing, the façade was over as the uniform becoming a more sophisticated outfit. “Ah, Miss Neopolitan...what an unexpected surprise to see you here.” Zinc got his back against the wall with two prisoners on the same room.

“What’s the matter? You look pale than usual, doc.” Quinn started to hold Zinc from the collar. “I want to ask you something, do you remember me?”

“What?” He asked as the big guy punched him in the face.

“I said, do you remember me?” His face was getting closer to him with burning eyes. “Three years ago, you were nothing but a loser that tried to force other people’s mind to act like your little obedient war dogs.”

Neo got her eyes pretty wide open, as she couldn’t understand what Quinn was rambling about.

“I guess the therapy atrophied your mind, Mr. Heartstone.”

“You wish, but that’s what they made us while doing right behind of Ironwood’s back.”

“Can we talk this in a more civilized way?” Zinc started to sweat and his voice was getting quieter as the feeling of dread was invading his body.

“Can't-do…” Quinn lifted the doctor to the table while he ordered Neo to strap him around. “Do you have any idea how it was a pain in the ass to get here? Getting myself arrested to get near you? And now I’m against the clock right now, so I’m in a rush with all my plans.” He put the headwear from the machine to Zinc’s head.

“What are you going to d-do? You can’t run this thing without power!”

“I can’t…?” Quinn walked towards a bag which Neo was carrying it when she got to the room. He was searching on the bag as he was looking for something. He found it while whistling a tune.

“What is that?”

“Can’t you tell?” The big guy was holding a jar full of yellow-colored Dust. “You think all those machines are the marvels of Remnant? Nothing beats the power of nature with this stuff.” He spread some of the Dust on his fingers. “And just like that, the _Silverium_ on the collars have the same kind of natural properties. No wonder why this thing looked so familiar to me.” He grabbed the key from Neo’s hand to detach the collar from his neck.

“I have no idea what are talking about.” The helpless doctor was trying to free himself.

“Don’t play dumb with me; I know you still didn’t forget everything about me and them. But you never expected that I would come back and get you for what you and those pricks did to me.”  Quinn started to adjust the Zinc’s straps a bit tighter. “But I suppose you are not the one able to give me answers anyways.”

“Then just let me go if I’m that useless for you…”

“HOWEVER…” Quinn interrupted while raising his index finger. “You are a great pain in the ass for me and this chick on the room.” He nodded at Neo, as she held Zinc’s head to stay still on the table.

“I beg you, can’t we arrange this?”

“Nope, that opportunity already passed on the moment I met you.”

“Fine, you won’t be able to escape from here anyways. A bunch of Atlesian soldiers is coming to this prison to control the riot.” Zinc tried to sound tough, the other two weren’t amused.

“Yeah, we already figured that out.” He started to make some friction on his hands, showing some spark due to the electricity coming from the Dust. “All this pain that I suffered on the last three days, it’s been stored for so long that I can no longer feel anything on the body.”

“Please…Please, I beg you.”

“*Sigh* Are you done crying? We only have some spare time to play with you.” Quinn was getting two fingers closer to Zinc’s forehead while the Dust was still active. “I hope you like my own version of the therapy, ‘Heartstone’s Deluxe Edition’ which is costumed-made for you.” In a matter of seconds, Quinn’s two fingers touched Zinc’s forehead, causing him to get in shock and feeling convoluted. The warden fell lost his conscious too quickly.

Neo was confused about what just happened, she pulled Quinn’s clothes to ask of what was all that about.

“Relax, this guy ain’t dead.” The big guy replied, but Neo was wondering why he didn’t want to kill him. “Letting him dying would only be more troublesome. I’m sure the good old Ironwood would like to talk with this sucker. Now did you bring my stuff?” Neo nodded while dragging the bag towards him.

When he opened the bag, his eyes were full of sparkles, like a kid getting his favorite toy. “Oh baby, I missed you.” He started to kiss his weapon, a huge war club. As he kept looking on the bag, his expression turned in to a groan. “What? That’s all? Where the hell are all my explosives and my ammo? You have to be kidding me!” Quinn started quickly at Neo with annoyance, she shrugged. “Whatever, I bet those guys took all of them away anyway.” He started to change to his normal clothes as those were in the bag as well. He was wearing an old ruined jacket with metal plates on the shoulders and a Kevlar vest underneath it.

Neo gave hand signals while telling about the rest of the plan.

“Did you read the note I left to you?”

Neo replied affirmatively.

“Good, because this is going to be a lot harder than expected.” He said while looking outside, a lot of Atlesian soldiers were coming through the hallway while aiming to the door. “Well, I guess we can’t go that way.” He started to combine some purple and red dust in one jar. He started to shake them until it was glowing.

“Stay back,” Quinn warned Neo as they were standing away from a wall. He threw the jar to it and all the walls and the floor started to warped with fire around, causing a big hole in the floor. “Let’s move on.” The prisoners jumped and escaped from the room.

“General, the prisoners escaped but Zinc is still inside the room. What should we do?” A soldier communicated with a Scroll while standing in the hallway.

 _“Proceed with the plan, get Zinc and bring him to me. Who were the prisoners?”_ Ironwood asked while he still flying to the prison after hearing about the riot.

“It was Heartstone and Neopolitan, sir.” The General fell in silence after the soldier’s answers. “Sir…?”

“ _Just bring Zinc and return to the base, I’ll be on the prison instead._ ”

“But sir, this place is way too dangerous for you. We can capture Heartstone for you.” The soldier replied in worrisome.

“ _No need for that, he is way out of your league, I will take care of him for myself. That’s an order._ ” Ironwood sounded pretty serious that no one wanted to question him.

“Understood, General.” He stopped with the communications as they proceed to open the door and get inside. They started to free Zinc and carry him in a wheelchair. They fought on their way back to the hangar.

* * *

 “Out of my way you weaklings!” Quinn was tackling through guards and other prisoners while Neo was evading them. The big guy was hitting everyone around with his weapon while sending everyone on the room flying. He was like a train going at full power, really unstoppable as some of the few the people trying to fight back couldn’t do any damage to him as he was made of iron.

Neo used some of her illusions to avoid and counter-attack. She was behind Quinn by a couple of meters while running around the prison. She used the umbrella with the hiding blade to make quick stabs and cuts with efficiency. It was impossible for anyone to even be capable to get near her.

They were getting closer to the exit, but some of the guards closed the door from the security room. Neo rushed towards there while Quinn kept defending himself from the mob. It was total chaos as they fought for their freedom.

Neo entered the security room as a guard was shooting at her, but she blocked the bullets with her umbrella while getting closer to him. She kicked the guard’s hand to disarm him and stab on the shoulders and chest, killing him instantly without much of a chance to fight. She used the control panel to open the gate and freeing more prisoners to keep everyone busy.

“Hmph, what bunch of pests…” No matter who many people tried to surround Quinn, he kept hitting every single guard on the room. He swung his weapon that broke some bones and causing collateral damage. Despite his slow movement, his attacks were strong enough to defeat guards with one hit. He was done to fight them, making free to continue with his escape, but our course nothing was that simple for him.

“You!” Quinn heard someone yelling at him, as he focused his sight behind him.

“Oh for the love of… do you ever give up!?” It was Bones with bandages on his broken arm and bruises all over his face.

“I got enough of you; I had to make it from the nursery through here to get my rematch with you.” Bones was blocking the exit while holding a baton.

“*Sigh* Look I don’t have time for this crap, I suggest you go away before I break your other arm.” Quinn was holding his weapon in a defensive stance.

“No way, now that I finally have the chance with no one to interfere between us, I won’t stop until I crush every single bone of your body and…”

*SLASH*

As Bones stopped talking, blood came out of his mouth. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him. It was too late until he noticed a there was someone behind him. He slowly turned around while revealing a huge cut from his back. When he finally saw someone behind him, he got stabbed in the stomach multiple times. He fell to the ground while showing the murderer to Quinn.

“I fricking knew it…”

“Hello, neighbor.” Inky was standing on the exit with a scalpel on his hand, covered in blood. He tried to clean it with his sleeves while smiling. “I guess we never were friends after all.”

“Why I would be a friend of a two-faced liar like you? I met so many hypocrites and liars in Atlas that it is almost my second nature to detect people like you.”

“I guess I never was able to fool you because I was so eager to see how stronger you would be against something sharp on your neck.” Inky was walking around Quinn, trying to intimidate him like a predator.

“Sorry to disappoint you but you should be a better actor if you want to try the friendly approach.”

“You know? A long time ago when I got here, I was getting rather boring since the good doctor tried to suppress the real me. Just like a sheep you told me yesterday, the only difference it wasn’t fear or ignorance for me. Zinc just tried to tame a hungry beast.”

“Are you trying to excuse yourself? Because it really annoys me that a person like you tries to blame others for not showing his true face.”

“We live in a world of liars, neighbor. It is a matter of saying lies for our own enjoyment.”

“I would rather be an honest and disliked jerk than a friendly and manipulative liar.” Quinn lowered his weapon, as not caring to fight the psychotic prisoner.

“Very well, let me show you who truly I am.” Inky started to such towards Quinn, with the scalpel aiming to him. On the moment he stabbed Quinn, he shattered like a mirror. “What the...?” He turned around to see Quinn still good while standing on the exit.

“Yeah maybe lying isn’t always that bad, but the intentions are what always mattered for me.” The big guy looked pretty confident of himself as he doesn’t even bother to fight back.

“Grrrr….would you shut up and die!?” Inky tried to attack again, but the moment he got near him, Neo appeared as the image of Quinn shattered again like glass.

She blocked Inky’s attack with the hidden dagger from her umbrella while Quinn was still standing but further in the exit.

“Yeah there’s another thing, she knew about you too. I wrote a note about you and the fact that she didn’t include you on the escape plan it pretty much said a lot about our trust to you. So right now I have a more important thing to do, she will make sure you are not going to mess with us ever.”

The big guy kept moving on while Neo and Inky were looking at each other with killer’s eyes.

**Prisoner 677 and a Two-Face Murderer:**

**Inky**

They moved away while looking for each other’s movement. It felt cold on the air, silent Neo and Inky were the only prisoners alive on the area. How many lives those did weapons go through countless bodies? They were nothing but cold killers seeing each other as prey.

“Surviving at all cost, only one is allowed to leave here alive.”

Inky ran towards Neo as he tried to swing and stab her, but she used her umbrella to parry the attacks from different angles. He fighting was roguish and unrefined; it was easy for Neo to predict his movements and being patient.

 “Stay still and let me kill you!” The prisoner started to get annoyed as he couldn’t be able to cut her or something as she was repelling everything he got.

As her opponent was getting tired, she started with the offensive approach by striking him with the umbrella while kicking him on the back. Doing cartwheels, backflips, and fencing was the way she was fighting against an easy opponent.

“Grrrraaaaah! Just! Die!” Out of fury, Inky ran towards her as she slowly showed the dagger while getting into position without moving. _‘Bad skills plus temper is equal to…’_

*SLASH*

Inky stopped moving as she put the dagger back to the umbrella. The sound of steel sliding back to the holster felt like a symphony for her on each second she was walking away from him without much trouble. Inky fell to the floor while a pool of blood was expanding around him. Only one left the room alive. _‘…death.’_

**Inky: Died Alone and Forgotten.**

“Everyone, this way!” One of the soldiers yelled to the squad for a distance, Neo hides behind a wall while looking at looking at them. They were escorting Zinc to another direction away from the hangar.

It was odd for Neo since they looked like they were trying to get out of the prison. She decided to follow them to where exactly we're going to. She quietly walked by taking cover and not letting any of the see her. As they were going downstairs, she started to hear loud noises coming from there. She started smiling after finally seeing what that place was.

* * *

 “Knock-knock!” Quinn was hitting the door with his weapon as he was getting closer to the hangar. “Damn door, why it has to be jammed on the worst times?” He kept trying to open up, but it was way too strong for his weapon alone, he lamented of not having ammo, explosives or even enough Dust to destroy it.

 He was looking around if there was someone else, but he was all alone. “I guess I have to improvise again.” He closed his eyes and started to raise his fist until it was directly to his face. “I will hate myself in the morning for this.”

He started to punch himself in the face multiple times. He tried to not going for the eyes, nose or mouth, just the jaws, and abdomen. Despite going through pain, his movement was getting slower for each hit he was causing to himself. From one punch after another, he finally stopped as he no longer was able to move his arm with enough speed to make a normal punch.

“Ugh, I think I got enough juice for this.” His Aura emitted a red-orange glow that covered his whole body. He extended his arms while touching the door with both palms. His entire Aura was transferring through there as he started to feel his body getting increasingly heavier until the point he was finally done. With a gentle push on the door, it went flying as if something exploded. He was feeling lighter as he depleted all that energy to make his way to the destination.

At last, after so much trouble he finally reached the hangar. He started to feel the exterior’s cold weather. It was windy due to the floating island’s height and Atlas’ never-ending winter just gave the chills to Quinn. The storm was gradually stopping while revealing a figure at the center of the landing spot.

“You really made it, Heartstone.” General was standing there all by himself while the Atlesian Dropship was behind him.

“You arrived late than expected, Tinman. I was hoping to steal one of those to get out of this place.” Quinn replied while firmly standing away from him.

“So that was part of your plan, huh? Were you expecting me to get here and steal my transport?”

“Precisely, although it was a bit rushed since my original plan was staying here a little longer until you could finally understand what secrets that were holding here for you and my team.”

“I guess you are a lot smarter than what appears.”

“And you are the most reasonable person than anyone in this goddamn kingdom.”

“Don’t forget this is your home too, Quinn.”

“It was my home from the moment you stopped believing in Jack, General.” Quinn drew his weapon as it was touching the ground. “Step aside; you know we don’t have to go through this.”

“You know I can’t allow it.” Ironwood drew his gun with his right hand, aiming at the floor.

“Then permission to kick your shiny metal ass, General.”

“Permission denied.”

Quinn and Ironwood were done talking, as they were more men of action since words would be meaningless for those two. Killing machines created for the only purpose to serve Atlas. The snowstorm was coming back to their direction and they were still keeping their distance. There were only silence, calm breezes from the south that was freezing the building.

“Surrender now, Quinn.”

“I rather die than being submitted by you again, General.”

The started to take a stance as Quinn was ready to fight one if not THE most dangerous person in Remnant. It became a matter of pride for them, fully aware that someone is not going to home tonight. What really meant for them to fight each other? What was really important for them to follow their own rules at the expense of others? They didn’t care about it; the only thing they knew was there’s no escape for them.

**General of Atlas Military Forces:**

** James Ironwood **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, this is going to get tough for a lot of people in the story.


	4. No Destiny for the Wicked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah it's been so long, but I got pretty busy with work and I was in a trip so I couldn't write anything lately. Also I noticed that no one really cares about this story. So updates will be less frequent than usual. Maybe I'm not that good as a writer, or even as fan of RWBY since I'm trying to make it this concise for a lot of people.
> 
> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

*BANG*

Ironwood started to shoot Quinn while he repelled the bullets with his weapon like he was swinging them like a ball game with smaller targets to hit. The big guy started to rush towards the General as he kept shooting at him.

Despite blocking some of the projectiles, he still got hit by some of them but not too bad to stop him as he was getting closer. The as he got Ironwood on his reach, Quinn swung his weapon against him, but he blocked it with his right hand while hearing metals clashing against each other.

"Hmph, I guess that piece of junk on your body really helps you, General," Quinn said while Ironwood was still guarding.

"You still have a lot to learn… such as not letting your guard down!" He started to pull Quinn's weapon until he punched him on the face with the left arm. The big guy countered-attack as he pulled his weapon too and head-butted Ironwood's face, making him release Quinn's weapon.

They stepped back for a moment, but the General took charge and started to punch Quinn multiple times. He tried to withstand some of the blows while Ironwood continued delivering hooks and jabs on him. Quinn couldn't move from where he was standing as Ironwood got a pretty fast offensive.

"Gotcha!" Quinn dodged the attacks while putting his palm on Ironwood's chest. His Aura was surrounding his body as all the energy started to concentrate on his hand. He depleted it on the General, sending him flying a couple of feet away from Quinn.

"Not bad…" Ironwood complemented to the escapee while trying to stand firmly.

"Dammit, that still hurts…" Quinn said it in pain as he got his hand on the chest.

"You are depending way too much of your Semblance. Do you ever learn, Quinn?"

"Like hell, you even care, my Semblance 'Charge' is the only thing that keeps me alive for so long." The big guy was holding his weapon with both hands while changing stance.

"We will see that…" Ironwood was getting his guard ready for anything. Quinn did big swings almost spinning around but the General dodged the attacks as for how slow the big guy was. Despite that, it was still too dangerous getting too close to Quinn.

After another swing, Quinn started to hold his weapon with the right hand while using the left hand to punch Ironwood from a blind spot. Finally having an opening, he made another swung as it landed on his opponent's left arm, hurting him enough but reacted quickly by keeping his distance.

"What's the matter, General? You are getting way too soft than before." Quinn said in a taunting tone while extending his arms.

Ironwood remained silent while on his knees in pain.

"Huh? Already giving up? Fine by me, I have to catch a plane anyways." Quinn started walking around Ironwood while heading to the vehicle.

*BANG*

Ironwood shot at Quinn's back, but he barely felt anything while he turned back at him.

"Hmph, do you want some more? If that's what you are asking for..." The big guy walked toward Ironwood and holding both hands like he is about to hit the ball. But in a blink and miss moment, the General punched the escapee on the guts and grabbed him from the collar.

He threw Quinn against the floor with a judo technique with a single hand. Vulnerable, Ironwood was on top of him and tried to stop him with consecutive punches from left and right hooks.

The big guy was between a tough opponent and kissing the floor. With every strike he received, he started to feel heavier and resilient to the point that Ironwood's punches felt like mosquito bites.

As Ironwood threw a left punch, Quinn head-butted the fist as it made the General stagger. Quinn saw the chance and used some of his Aura on his open palm to send Ironwood flying a few feet away from him. He wasn't hurt but at least Quinn got more space to breathe. "Dammit, dammit, dammit…" He started to feel rather exhausted due to the energy he used.

"What was that? You got too cocky, Quinn."

"Tch, that was really stupid of me." The big guy felt that his Aura was reaching its limit, not even a strong defense could help him to survive another attack.

"So are you going to surrender? Or you want me to convince you more?" Ironwood walked towards Quinn, only making him stepping back away from the General.

It was pointless, no matter how many times he attacked his opponent, that fight was more on his favor than Quinn's. The robotic parts on Ironwood's body wouldn't stop him to keep fighting. "Grrrr…I'm not strong enough, crap." The escapee said to himself in disappointment.

"I have to admit it, Quinn. You are giving much of a fight than any other student could ever accomplish in this life." Ironwood complemented as slowly walked towards Quinn, cornering him on the edge of the platform.

"I made a promise; I would beat every person on Remnant in order to accomplish it."

"Don't forget that you are only this strong because of me!"

"This is the kind of strength I never asked for! You are so desperate to make perfect soldiers!" Quinn yelled with an angry tone, feeling regretful.

"It was your choice to become like this, I gave you a choice and you accepted!"

"With what!? Preparing us for a never-ending conflict!? Creating stupid robots to defend us until they went rouge!? You are creating monsters, General! It is only getting worse when there are people doing the same damn thing right under your nose!"

"What!? What are you talking about!?" Ironwood dropped his guard after hearing what Quinn said.

"Can't you see it? You said there is a huge threat coming for us, but they made a fool out of you! If you ever have the chance to talk with Zinc, you will understand it what I'm talking about." Quinn made a slight step, already on the border as he was looking to the huge height from the platform.

"I will after I put you back on your cell." He put his gun away while cornering Quinn.

The big guy looked at the height once again; he started smiling for no reason while his sight turned back the General. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that won't happen."

"How can be so sure!? You have nowhere to go!"

"I don't, but I don't care what you or other people say. I'll always do the opposite." Quinn was getting more on the edge, wanting to jump on purpose.

"Don't take another step, Quinn. Just be rational and don't do another stupid thing." The General said out of concern.

"I'm a contrarian, General. I will do whatever the hell I want, even with people I respect." Ironwood got his eyes wide open for Quinn's statement. "As for now, I must go back with my teammates; we are done talking here and I wish you good luck with the interrogation…farewell." Done talking, Quinn jumped out of the platform as the snow storm was blinding Ironwood. He rushed towards the edge to see where he landed despite the visibility. He was dumbfounded that he actually did it.

On the door, a soldier came out of the door and saw his superior standing while freezing due to the weather. "General we have a problem!"

"Mhhh? What are you doing here? I ordered you to take Zinc and go back to HQ!" He turned his sight back to the soldier with an upset attitude.

"That's the thing, someone stole out transport!"

"What!?" In shock, those two started to hear a noise like a machine coming from the bottom. They started to get a closer look at what was happening. Some lights were turning on while showing the stolen Dropship.

As the storm started to calm down, it slowly showed who was inside. Much for his surprise, Ironwood saw Quinn on the back of the vehicle while looking at the pilot. Neopolitan was piloting the stolen vehicle with Quinn standing on the hatch and saluting towards the General as they went flying, escaping from the floating prison island.

"Send air troopers after them, we cannot let them cross Atlas' borders," Ironwood ordered to his subordinate.

"Yes, sir!" The soldier obeyed as soon he started to use his Scroll for the chase. "Attention, General Ironwood's request to send troops to chase two prisoners coming to the border in a stolen vehicle… What!?" The soldier's mood changed as he didn't like what was hearing.

"What's the matter, lieutenant?" Ironwood asked as he noticed something wasn't right.

"But…is General's direct orders…this can't be…seriously, why…? I…I understand it, I will tell him right away." The soldier hung up the call with a long face. "General, they won't send troopers after them."

"Why!? Under whom authority…!?" Ironwood sound angry as they refused his request.

"Colonel Clover's orders, he wants you back to HQ as soon as possible. They will deploy only two chasers while the torrents will defend the walls."

"This can't be…" Ironwood shrugged, but if something like that must be important as it started to think everything that Quinn said about Zinc. "Alright, let the chasers and torrents handle them."

"But sir, are you sure about that!?"

"I'm sure; if Clover wants him to go then it must be important. Besides, I have the feeling that chasing them will be a waste anyways."

"How can you tell, General?" The soldier looked confused about how easily he complied.

"Because something tells me that his team leader will come back to Atlas, no matter what." Ironwood decided to head to his vehicle while the soldier ordered the rest of his squad to come to the hangar and bring Zinc.

Things are getting weird as the Great General couldn't stop thinking of so many things are going to change, a different threat is arising from the shadows of Atlas. If what Quinn told about his leader's innocence, then the kingdom would get upside down. Without Ozpin's whereabouts, he would take matters in his own hand, even if that means trapping his own people.

**James Ironwood: Under stress and losing his mind.**

* * *

"Are you sure you can pilot this damn thing!?" Quinn asked Neo while experiencing turbulence due to the storm. Neo replied as she waved her hands to berate the big guy. "Man, I really hate flying..."

The vehicle was shaking a lot that made Quinn a little dizzy of how bad things are going. As he opened the door to throw up, he saw two chasers right behind them. "Crap, we got company!" He tried to look at the panel, but there was a small inconvenience.

"Where the hell is the weapons!?" Neo shrugged as she couldn't find them either. "What kind of Atlas vehicle isn't equipped with weapons!? No missiles or a torrent!? Not even flares…!?" He started punching the door out of frustration. "Whatever, I will try to find something on those boxes."

As soon he started searching, the chasers shot missiles at them. Neo maneuvered around to avoid them, something that complicated Quinn to find anything around as they were going upside down. The storm made things worse for both sides since there were a lot of hills and floating chunks of earth on the way.

"Stay still, dammit!" Quinn yelled while trying to not lose his stomach. As soon Neo stabilized the vehicle, the big guy was looking on the boxes until he finally found where the supplies were. Quinn was grinning from ear to ear for his discovery. "Alright, try to put them close to us. I will stop them with those babies." He started using his weapon to change, 'Titan's Nightmare' into a rocket launcher form. He grabbed some explosives from the box and loaded ready for some action.

"Heads up!" He shot the explosives towards the chasers as they were evading the projectiles. Their movements were unpredictable as they were able to hide on the storm when turning off the lights.

Quinn noticed it was pointless to waste ammo on them while they were obscure; he grabbed a flare gun from next to the co-pilot's seat and shot in front of them. He finally was able to see them and shot another rocket that landed on one of the chaser's wings. It slowed down enough to make it retreat but still got another one to deal with.

"One less, but the other won't go down without some battle," Quinn said while reloading his weapon. The remaining chaser fought back with heavy weaponry too as the big guy closed the door to take cover. Neo did her best effort to avoid critical damage. Unfortunately, the chaser was able to hit one of the turbines, losing balance but still capable to maintain altitude.

"Son of a…! We are losing speed!" Neo looked at Quinn as he was yelling; she got the expression of someone really annoyed. "What? Don't tell me you have a better plan."

Neo gave the instructions to Quinn with some junk around while still piloting. "You have to be kidding me, you expect me to do that!?" He yelled at her as it sounded bad news. Neo insisted as she looked angry at him. "I will blame you if we die for this." As the muted pilot nodded back, she started to gain altitude and going above the chaser.

Quinn got his weapon ready with the door closed while leaving him in his thoughts. _'Dammit, and I thought Ace's ideas were the craziest ones…'_ He was definitely not excited for what it was coming. Neo turned the vehicle into 90 degrees as Quinn opened the door. He was holding really tight with one hand while aiming with his weapon with the other hand. "Get lost, sucker!"

*KABOOM*

It was a direct shot at point-blank range. Quinn destroyed the chaser as the pilot ejected from his seat moments ago before the big guy could destroy it. The Atlesian pilot was falling with a parachute while looking at the criminals getting away.

"Huzzah, we are done with them." Neo gave the thumbs up to Quinn. "Don't celebrate just yet; we are still inside Atlas territory. Our last obstacle is the border, but you are pretty sure that is not going to be easy since they have like who-knows how many torrents defending there." They focused their eyes forward while Quinn was gathering more ammo for the worst.

They were getting closer to the walls; some lights were showing to them while the torrents started to aim at them. Atlas' forces begun shooting while Neo maneuvered around as fast as possible while Quinn was getting ready to shoot some torrents. The storm was getting visibly thicker and all spotlights never stopped losing them from sight.

"This is stupid; we will never go through that bloody wall as long they can see us. Can you do some of your tricks with this vehicle!?" Sadly for Quinn, Neo replied by shaking her head. She tried to explain that she can't make illusions that big. "Oh this is great, we are screwed then."

As Neo tried to look around, she pointed at the spotlights for Quinn. "Want me to get rid of them?" She nodded at his question. He sighed and got his weapon ready while trying to aim at the lights. "Are you sure you don't want the torrents out instead? I really don't understand you."

*RATATATATATA…*

The torrents were all over the place as it was raining bullets from all directions. Quinn tried to destroy the spotlights as fast he could without being hit by them. The damaged turbine was troublesome as it made a difficult task to aim well due to the poor balance. "Steady…" Quinn mumbled as he tried to focus his aim. He shot one but it didn't explode. "Keep flying next to the wall, I will make things wild."

As the torrents couldn't shoot as the fugitives were in a blind spot underneath them. Some guards were shooting instead, but they weren't much of a problem since their weapons were weaker. Neo piloted at high speed to send some of them flying. It wasn't really necessary but it amused both her and Quinn.

It was the end of the border; Quinn was done shooting as he used all the ammo. They turned back and flew away from them; some of the guards looked confused about why they are returning to the kingdom without fighting back.

"Lights out!" On his weapon, he pressed a red button under the trigger. Some of the missiles that got stuck on the lights started blinking red lights for a moment.

*KABOOM*

All lights and chunks of the wall were crumbling; the storm was causing major signal interference on the torrents that couldn't follow their targets. The border guards were completely on the dark, as they couldn't hear where their vehicle was. Everything went quiet for them.

Only the sound of cold winds was raising the tension. Despite they were stronger, the idea of not knowing where they are was more than enough to feel goosebumps. They started hearing whistles as the storm was calming down. They couldn't tell from where it was coming from but definitely wasn't normal.

*Someone whistling Atlas theme song*

The guards focused their sights to the front, hearing the noise from the distance. Slowly, a vehicle was approaching towards them. The lights were off and some people used the torrent in manual mode to destroy the fugitives. "Ready…" One of the guards raised his hand while holding the orders. "…Aim…" The torrents got the target on their sight. "…FIRE!" The torrents shot at the vehicle at the same time.

*CRASH*

The vehicle shattered into pieces like if they were behind glass. "What in the world…?" One of the guards exclaimed as they saw disappearing.

"*Whistle* Hey you are facing the wrong side, idiots!" Someone yelled on their backs, they saw a vehicle flying away from them. They were already outside of the wall. "Suck on that, Atlas!" Quinn was taunting them as he was getting away. Neo and Quinn finally escaped out of the kingdom.

"Phewww, that was close…I thought you said you couldn't make an illusion that big." The big guy asked the lady as she replied with a shrug. "That was a lie…?" She nodded. "Oh I get it, you can't make illusions if there was light towards us…not a bad idea I must say." Neo was laughing at how the guards' expressions looked like.

"Do you have any plans now that we are out?" Neo replied with signs as she pointed at the monitor with a map. "Vale? Why you would go there if it is infested with heck-tons of Grimm?" Neo insisted, explaining she must go to find someone. "Really…? Well, that is going to be your problem then. As for me, I have a long trip to Mistral." Quinn started to look at the map for the distance between where they are, Vale, and Mistral. "Mhhh, I guess we can get to Vale first and leave you there, I will pilot it to my destination later."

The big guy went to his seat and sat of how tired he was after a long day. The fight with Ironwood really left him a mark, despite he fought tougher opponents. While relaxing, he reached one of his pockets to look what he had on himself. He found a silver earring with a purple jewel inside one of his interior pockets from his jacket. "*Sigh* Good thing no one stole this thing." He said to himself while wearing it.

The day started to get darker; the night fell after hours of flying around. Neo's eyes felt heavier after piloting the vehicle for so long. "Tired?" Quinn asked her as he noticed the way she looked like, she replied with a nod. "Let me pilot it for a moment, you should get some rest right now. I will wake you up until then."

The muted lady left her seat while Quinn took it over and started piloting it. She lied down over one of the seats while using some emergency blankets to keep her warm as how cold the environment was. She closed her eyes slowly as finally got the time to start looking for Roman.

* * *

_Rule number 2, never hesitate to eliminate anyone who is on your way. In this world, fear and strength are your only tools to survive. Did you like the present I gave you? This umbrella has a hidden blade on it but only use it to eliminate your enemies with a single strike since it is fragile._

_Aside from that, you are getting better with your training. Although, you are pretty weak physically to engage combat against Grimm or bigger opponents. As long no one is able to hit you then you should be fine._

_This may sound unprofessional of me, but I'm really enjoying your company. This style of life can be solitary at a time when you don't have someone to share all your achievements. So promise me to always staying by my side, no matter what you have to do in order to accomplish. There's no one more important than you in my life, Neo._

* * *

" _Warning, multiple Grimm in close proximity."_

"Damn you, stupid Lancers! Get out of my way!" Quinn yelled as he was under attack.

The alarm wakes up Neo so abruptly, the vehicle was shaking violently that made her fall off the seat. Wasp-like Grimm was tackling the vehicle, getting massive damage as they finally were flying over the continent of Sanus.

"Ah, you finally woke up; take control of this while I squash some of those insects." Neo switched places with Quinn while he grabbed his weapon and opened the door to fight some of Grimm. The flight was troublesome since Grimm were cornering them. Some of the Lancers tried to get into the vehicle but got annihilated by Quinn pretty quickly. "What the hell…? I'm getting tired of those bugs!" He said it while crushing Lancers' heads on the air.

The longer she was piloting, Neo started noticing something wasn't right. Grimm readings on the radar were increasing as they kept moving forward. Chaos was unleashed until Griffons were approaching towards them. "You have to be kidding me! More of them…? Seriously…!?" The creatures were stomping on top of the dropship. One Griffon destroyed the left wing, causing them to lose control.

Despite their best efforts, it was pretty useless as their trajectory was heading towards a destroyed Atlesian Airship on the ground. They were pretty close to the evacuated city of Vale, where Beowolves and Ursai were roaming around. "Watch out!" Quinn ran towards Neo as it was useless to control it. The big guy used himself as a shield to protect Neo from the impact. They went through a hole, making a rough impact.

Their freedom didn't last enough. After escaping and trying to survive the trip, they crashed inside another prison where Grimm roamed around the ruins of the airship. In the end, they just ended on a much worst place. Where there's 0% of rescue, and monsters were their jailers.

The noise of the impact made one of the Grimm to awake. Deep underground a roar was unleashed as something huge as ready to bring calamity on that place. Hungry, angry, and definitely terrifying, the creature was arising from the ground while crawling towards the Airship ruins.

The battle for survival has begun.


	5. No Illusions for the Living

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

"Ugh, what a pain…" Quinn commented with annoyance as he tried to stand up and leave the crashed vehicle. After a forceful landing, he and Neo ended trapped inside an abandoned Atlesian Aircraft. He couldn't know for how long it's been like that but sure it was during the Battle in Vale months ago.

"Hey, are you okay?" The big guy tried to ask his fellow escapee, but there was no response. _'Oh right, she doesn't talk…'_ He tried to look around, but he couldn't see her anywhere around. One thing was for sure, he was all alone. He saw everything inside in ruins and filled with smoke and fire.

' _Damn those Lancers and Griffons, now I'm starting to reconsider this was a bad idea coming to Vale in the first place.'_ Quinn was grumbling as focused on looking anything useful such as ammo or food. He barely was able to salvage some of it, cheap-quality missiles and bland-taste emergency rations. _'I hope to get some flavor out of those…'_ He wondered as he didn't eat something good recently.

To be more precise, nothing tasted good at all for him in the last couple of years…

He started scratching the left side of his jaw, where his scars were. He felt the place around cooler than usual like he was inside a freezer. Compared to Atlas never-ending snow, he felt like it was summer. Done gathering everything from the crash site, he looked upwards while examining the hole where they came from.

"Tch, it looks like we can't get out of here through there…it could be worse though." He said that while looking at the blue sky. He tried to assume the time due to the sun's position. It was around afternoon as for how bright it was the day.

From the ruins, he lifted some object to move around. Dark, cold, and isolated; it was the perfect place for a Grimm nest. He didn't like how he ended from one Atlesian place to another in one flight. He felt like the luckiest man alive for how many things happened to him in the last few days.

' _Where the hell is that damn door? This place is like a maze…This thing was definitely made in Atlas of how overly complicated is…'_ He complained a lot on his mind about the aircraft's layout since being alone made wonders with his sanity. Every step he made, every move he did, he still couldn't find the exit of even Neo for that matter. _'Typical, trying to save your own skin is something I wouldn't expect less from a pint-size criminal chick.'_

He walked slowly around the deteriorated hallways while looking on his back if there was any Grimm following him. Nothing except corpses of Atlesian soldiers and destroyed Knights. There was mud all over the floor; he noticed small size footprints on the way.

Those looked fresh enough, as he started assuming Neo already went to that same direction. _'Heh, so she survived after all…What the hell are those?'_ He saw bigger footprints next to hers, as something was following her. "Oh, crap…"

* * *

Moments ago, Neo woke up in a different section after the crash. She was on a room next to where the crash was, with bruises and small cuts since she wasn't conscious to use her Aura at that time.

She wiped some dirt off her clothes while looking at her umbrella if it didn't break. Just a couple of scratches and small burns, her weapon was perfectly fine. The room was some sort of janitor's room since there were cleaning products and some other tools. She gave a disdain looked as how dirty was.

As she took some of her belonging, she noticed a paper sheet next to her hairband. That paper got something written on it, which the handwriting looked odd for her:

_Day 8,_

_I was able to find ammo in this place. Although it is pretty useless as it is not compatible with my weapon but I can use one of those Atlesian toys instead, just in case. I'm trying my best to not encounter any Grimm, especially "IT."_

_Anyways, so far the supplies are running low for the moment and I shouldn't waste any time touring around this place. I can't find an exit no matter how many times I memorized this place; it is almost like I'm walking in circles. The worst part is when I'm able to find a way out; it gets blocked as everything was falling apart._

_After so long, now I'm looking like caveman of how dirty my 40,000 Lien suit was getting at. Too bad there's no water running to drink or clean it. I, one of the greatest minds in Remnant have to run and hide like a rat._

_I can't believe this after my encounter with Red became nothing but a horrible ride. The most I can do for now is finding a way to survive and leave this place. I need to communicate with Neo and let her know I'm still alive._

Neo was in shock because she unmistakably recognized who wrote the note. After so long, from all places, she never expected to find something like that. Without hesitating, she started rushing out of the room while feeling worried.

The place was really falling apart as she had to crawl through some vents since the door was being blocked from the other side. Neo wasn't so eager about the idea to ruin her clothes but there weren't other options. Spider webs and rats were on her way, it was gross but she went to worse places anyways.

Back to the dirt after so many years, as she thought about herself at the moment…

The vents were rusty, got moss and holes. Neo felt some chills due to the place's temperature, a bad moment of not having more suitable attire. As she finally reached the event's end, there was no other way to move forward. She kicked the hatch below her for a quick exit.

Finally out, she was in a hallway with mud. She sighed out of exasperation at how confusing the place was. She tried to recall the layout since she was already inside an Aircraft months ago.

No matter how much she tried to relay on memory muscle, the place was a total mess since some paths were blocked or completely destroyed.

As she was wandering aimlessly, she saw some marks on the ways like if were from an animal. The scratches went across the entire hall, it was cutting through metal. Neo felt cold as the further she went; it was definitely dark since no possible source of light could help her for the moment.

She heard noises ahead of her, like some pieces of metal were crashing and falling to the ground. Neo approached slowly while getting her weapon ready if a Grimm was trying to surprise her. The moment she got inside, there wasn't anything other than destroyed Knights.

Too paranoiac for her own good, so she thought…

She kept walking while checking her surroundings. The place was really busted and nothing useful was inside. Neo proceeded on her way, not bothering herself to check the room. Of course, she should have checked it further since the most dangerous things are the ones you aren't aware of.

As she stopped walking for a brief moment, the place felt colder than usual as like death was close, very close.

*PEW*

In the niche of time, Neo used her umbrella to shield against the projectile. She moved her weapon aside to see what was attacking her; it looked like a Knight but with four arms while holding two rifles. It looked deformed as like a scrapped creation. The most noticeable feature was a white mask on the robot's face, it was a Geist Grimm.

Its movements were like a zombie, as it was limping with the arms falling apart. The possessed machine kept shooting at the small-sized escapee while she advanced towards it. Just when she got closer to the Grimm, it started to attack with both arms but Neo parried the blows while kicking the legs by the knees.

It was vulnerable as the possessed machine was on the floor. Neo stomped the head quickly before it could be got the chance to stand back again. The Geist left the body and flew through the hallway while Neo chased it down before it could cause her more trouble. That elusive Grimm went through a wall, getting out of Neo's reach.

She tried to examine said wall to see if there's another way around. It was impossible to go there from where she was. Neo put her right ear close to the wall to hear if it's still there. There was total silence, being improbable to hear anything from the other side. She tried to focus more before she could continue on her way.

*Click*

In mere seconds, Neo's eyes got wide-open and she started to move away from the wall.

*KABOOM*

An explosion destroyed the wall, as someone used a weapon from the other side. Between smoke and crumbles, the lady saw a big deformed figure as it sounded metal clashing with each step. The Geist posed more parts of destroyed Knights, but also part from Paladins making it bigger and threating while welding cannons and armor-piercing machine-guns.

It became a monster.

Knowing there's no chance to fight it, Neo decided to retreat for the moment and lose it. She tried to her composure and not showing fear if she wants to hide for a better plan. Running down the hall, the possessed machine rushed in a crude manner since its anatomy wasn't well-formed. Destroying everything on its path while chasing that small lady, it acted ruthlessly as it shot the heavy weaponry at her.

Neo was under pressure and tried to go through the vents to escape with ease, but the Geist noticed of what she was doing and shot at the vents. That forced her to run in a different direction.

The maze-like airship started to give her a lot of trouble and it was impossible to fight back. Neo was quick-planning while avoiding the attacks. She noticed a small hole in a wall and slid through there, escaping from the Grimm for the moment.

Despite losing it, it wouldn't be enough as it started punching there. The lady had to hide quickly before it was too late. The most convenient place she could found was a trash bin on the corner. Space was small but had enough room for her and took the chance anyway.

As the Grimm finally destroyed the wall, it moved slowly inside while examining its surroundings. It couldn't see its prey anywhere and started to throw all desks and boxes around to find her. Neo tried to keep her cool while still inside the trash can.

The temperature was lowering more, she was feeling cold and it seems the Geist still doesn't stop moving despite the room was getting frozen.

*Sneeze*

The Geist turned around as it heard something from the trash can. It started aiming with the heavy machine-guns at the corner where the sneeze was coming from. Things looked pretty bad for Neo as there's nowhere to hide, could taste the gunpowder near as the Geist was ready to take action.

It started shooting at her…

*CRASH*

On the barrage of bullets being concentrated on that single corner, it began shattered like glass and falling apart. The illusion was over, she was running away from behind but the Grimm reacted with a strike with full 180 turns.

Neo blocked the blow with her umbrella, sending her flying across the room. She was hurt pretty badly and tried to use her Semblance to escape again. The Geist noticed the pattern and used some lights to illuminate the room, showing a shadow out of place. Neo's illusion didn't fool it, and the Grimm grabbed her with both metallic hands.

The force it was using to squash Neo was too much for her, its grip was absolutely insane and hopeless to set herself free. She was losing her breath, couldn't even scream. Everything was becoming dark as she started losing her conscious.

"Yo, junkhead!" Someone screamed behind the Grimm while it was a focus on Neo. It slowly was turning to see who was there, until it realized its leg got destroyed in mere seconds. "The only thing I hate more than machines is a Grimm possessing one."

Neo recovered her conscience, realizing Quinn came to save her. The big guy started swinging his weapon with both hands, destroying one of the arms and freeing Neo from the grip. "Tch, you made me run in circles while wondering what you were doing." He said while being on guard, with Neo on his back.

The Geist started moving again while aiming with both heavy guns at Quinn; he had enough of it and just activated his Semblance to withstand the bullets. The longer he was resisting the attack his was becoming unmovable due to the stored energy. At the moment it stopped shooting, he deactivated his Semblance to move again and returning fire with his rocket launcher.

*BOOM* He destroyed its weapons, leaving it vulnerable for another strike. The Geist tried to move but Quinn rushed for one more blow aiming to the Grimm's mask, it reacted and left the body, escaping from danger.

"Little bastard, those are getting smarter every damn day…" Quinn said while putting away his weapon and turning his head Neo. "Are you alright? Couldn't handle that thing?"

Neo shook her head, as she replied in a relieved manner.

"Yeah, I don't blame you. Dealing with something like that alone is pretty much-asking death coming through your doorstep, at least for you though…" Quinn extended his hand at Neo, helping her to stand back again. "…Did you found any exits anyway?"

Neo replied, unfortunately, she wasn't lucky either.

"You must be kidding me, right? *sigh* this is just getting better for each second…" Quinn said with unsubtle sarcasm that made Neo roll her eyes. "Whatever, we must find one as soon as possible."

When Quinn started to walk towards the hallway, Neo grabbed him from the jacket to stop him for a brief moment. "What is it now?" He asked with annoyance, the small lady showed the letter to him.

Quinn started to read it with each detail, it left him confused in regard to the letter's content. "This must be pure coincidence, are you sure this is really from him?" Neo nodded with confidence. "I'm not gonna lie, I really doubt he is really alive at this point." Quinn's statement made Neo angry towards Quinn, he kept walking away to look out for an exit.

She pulled his jacket again, insisting to go and look for Roman instead of finding an exit. "Hell no, I want to leave this damn place. You don't understand the dangers of staying here." Quinn pushed her away. "If you want to stay here and get yourself killed, so be it. Don't drag me into this any longer."

They exchanged looks with fierce eyes. Neo was slowly getting her hidden blade out of her umbrella. She went to high speed towards Quinn with the blade at the front, but he stopped her by grabbing her right arm with the weapon.

"Wanting a fight, huh? I really hate fighting chicks half of my size." The big guy threw her away from him, but she landed on her feet with still being on guard. It was a matter of time for those two to explode.

**Neopolitan vs. Quinn Heartstone**

Neo was stepping sideways with her umbrella on position, mirroring the same stance as Quinn's war club was holding with one hand. The big guys made the first move as he swung his weapon at her; she dodged by sliding on the floor. Neo kicked him on the back with a counter-attack.

He got his Aura off because still got some stored energy and he didn't want to lose mobility yet. While the kick wasn't painful, Quinn needed to be careful of not letting his guard down or could be fatal.

Neo did parry Quinn's attacks while just kicking him on the face. He was getting irritated at how difficult was trying to hit his opponent. "This is a waste of time…" He put his weapon away and started doing a stance barehanded. He was doing a defensive position while not moving of his place.

Neo stopped for a brief moment while analyzing his movements, changing the strategy since he is a lot quicker with punches. That should be much of a problem since she fought someone with the sale style. She jumped while doing a dive kick at Quinn, but he sidestepped and counter-attacked with an open-palm strike.

The small lady got hurt by it, much to her surprise since it was the first time someone was able to land a hit on her. She decided to use her blade against him while his Aura was still deactivated. Rushed from left to right while trying to confuse him and backstab him. Quinn closed his eyes while concentrating on the right moment to attack.

In position, she started to attack him from behind with such speed impossible to catch by the human eye. Unfortunately for her, Quinn was above the average human.

*SLASH*

Unmovable, drops of blood fell on the ground and Neo was astonished at the moment. Quinn caught the blade with his left hand while grabbing the lady's neck with the right hand. "I told you, you are just wasting our time before things get worse," Quinn said as he was holding her, incapable of moving. "If you don't stop this madness, we…"

The place started feeling agitated; Quinn felt a chill down his spine while Neo looked at him with confusion. They were feeling terror as hearing loud steps getting closer. Quinn released her from his grip and she was on the ground trying to breathe again, things were getting ugly for those two.

"Oh, no…we have to go, now!" Quinn said in fear while dragging Neo from the arm and running out of the room. As the loud steps stopped, something like snake-headed Grimm was showing off and looking in the hallway. It got its eyes fixed on them and was eager to go after them.

They ran into a blocked pathway with a closed door, they tried to force the doorknob but it appeared stuck by something from the other side. "Dammit! Why am I always had to deal with this stuff?" Quinn said while kicking the door, with no results.

The snake saw them cornered, it moved slowly towards them and opening the mouth for a big bite. They started sweating due to the tension as Quinn couldn't engage combat with his Aura deactivated and Neo's Semblance was impossible to use for the tight space. The snake leaped at them with high speed and eating them whole.

Neo reacted quickly and used the umbrella to stop it from going any further; it gave the chance for Quinn to hit it with his weapon. It was really damaging but not enough to stop the snake. With fierce eyes, it started targeting Quinn as its biggest threat.

"Want a piece of me!? I dare you stupid freak!" He taunted the beast as it was ready to attack again, Neo was behind Quinn while waiting for the Grimm to make its move as well. As the snake was slowly opening its mouth, it leaped again with those big fangs towards them.

*CRASH*

The snake broke the illusion, getting suck on the door with the fangs piercing it. They appeared again with Quinn finally activating his Aura and stomping the snake's head. As his Aura was active along with his Semblance as well, all the energy stored made him heavy enough to make the snake impossible to move.

"Gotcha, sucker!" Quinn said with a lot of weight over the snake. His Aura started to glow brighter while focusing all the energy on the leg. Each second made the pressure getting worst to the point where the energy was released, breaking the snake's fangs and jaw while finally opening the door.

With a new path, they kept moving further while leaving the unconscious snake behind. It got dragged back to the hallway it came from while hearing a roar of distance. Neo couldn't stop thinking of what kind of Grimm it was back there as it was different to the King Taijitu as just one head opposed of two.

"Keep running and don't let that thing spot you again," Quinn warned Neo as they were running through different rooms. They found a room at the end of some upstairs and tried to pull some crates and tables to block the pathway. The tight space would be impossible to make that Grimm able to chase them.

"I think we finally lost it but damn it was a pain." The big guy said in annoyance while Neo tried asking him about the Grimm. "What?" Quinn was trying to catch his breath while looking at her. "I already told you, this is why I wanted to leave this place because of that thing chasing us. I don't know what the hell that Grimm but definitely a dangerous one is."

Neo tried to apologize for trying to attack him moments ago. Quinn didn't care for it as he started to inspect the place. "Huh, this is the Airship's bridge." They noticed the control panels and broken screens; the oddest thing was everything arranged like someone was living there.

"You were right, there was someone here but where is he?" The escapees looked at their surroundings that they were the only ones present. They scattered around to inspect around, as they found boxes with supplies and ammo. "You gotta be kidding me!" Quinn yelled as he saw a box stacked with only cereal boxes there. "Pumpkin Pete's…more Pumpkin Pete's!? There's nothing but damn Pumpkin Pete's in this place!"

Neo asked as she noticed he didn't like that cereal. "Of course I don't like them; those things got nothing but sugar in it. Only a fool would like those things."

* * *

Meanwhile, on Haven Academy, a blond guy wearing armor plates was eating a bowl of Pumpkin Pete's started coughing. He felt like he was choking with the cereal.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Another guy with green clothes and black hair asked the blond one while eating pancakes.

"I'm fine but the cereal tasted sour for some reason, did the milk expired?" He replied.

"I don't know, but maybe you should check it." The guy in green clothes suggested to his friend. It didn't matter and they kept enjoying their breakfast.

* * *

Back to Quinn and Neo, they were still looking around until the lady saw a trap door underneath a desk. She tried to open it but it got a lock. "Heh, you found something interesting. Let me open it for you." Quinn said while using some Dust he found from one of the boxes. He put small quantities of fire and gravity Dust inside the lock.

"I would move away from it if I was you," Quinn warned to Neo as they stepped back while looking at the lock exploding, it opened with much trouble. "Ladies first…" He said while holding the trap door, Neo asked if is coming in too. "…Not yet, I will still be here while you investigate down there." Neo nodded as she was going down, leaving Quinn alone while looking for something useful.

"Mhhh, nothing is working but there's still some power in the turbines." He said while looking at one of the control panels. "…Too bad this place can't fly again. I wonder what else I could find here." As he was scavenging the ammo and Dust on the boxes, he found another note next to them.

_Day 1,_

_I woke up inside a destroyed Aircraft, I thought I was a goner after the Griffon ate me whole while I was about to deal with Red. I wasn't digested so I was able to break free when that Grimm got annihilated._

_Everything happened so suddenly, I ended the trap inside this place. Minor issues, the only thing I have to do is find an exit and just get back tome before things get worse. Two things I will do after leaving this place: Report to Neo and then get my payment from Cinder._

_Although I encountered some Grimm on my way, those were nothing with the exception of the Geist. If I play smart, I will be out of here in no time. Like I always say, Survive at all cost._

"Hmph, I bet he wasn't expecting to encounter something worse than a Geist here, poor bastard," Quinn commented as he was done reading the note. After half an hour of scavenging around, he started wondering what happened to Neo since she didn't come back from that room.

"Why is she taking so long?" Quinn decided to go down as well; the place was pretty dark and colder than the bridge. He watched his step as there was no source of light. "Oww!" The big guy didn't saw a metal bar as he got hit on the forehead. It was starting to bother him as he couldn't see Neo anywhere.

"Hey, are you still there?" He tried to call her, but there was no response or else. It made Quinn worry if there was something dangerous in that place. As he kept walking, he stopped because he found another door.

"So, she must be there…" He opened it slowly while looking at some lite candles inside. The first thing he saw was Neo sitting on a corner with the head down. Quinn walked towards her to see why she was like that. "Hey, what are you doing? We have to go." Neo didn't respond like she was ignoring him.

"Are you listening? I said we have to go before that thing finds us again…what are you holding?" Quinn noticed she was tightly hugging a bowler hat with feathers on it. He kneeled while inspecting her closely, she was crying as there were a lot of tears all over her face.

"Oh no…" It finally hit him; he processed everything around as there was a bed with white sheets. Quinn felt like something punched him in the gut, as he started experiencing painful memories from a long time ago. He noticed another note which it was next to the bed and started reading it.

_My Regrets:_

_It is impossible, no matter what I do there's no way I could leave this place. I wasted 40 days surviving with no hope. That Grimm, it kept me here for so long while crushing all possibilities of escape._

_It wasn't trying to eat me, but instead, it was toying with me as he found some sadistic joy by keeping me here. That thing was smarter than any other Grimm I couldn't ever imagine. This thing brings nothing but despair, I gave up finding a way out and I will die here._

_I regret not being able to hold my promise to Neo, the only one who was more important than my own greed in this life. I wanted to always keep her on my side, but I don't even know if she is alright anyways. I wish I could apologize to her for not telling that I loved her._

_She was all for me, and I regret not changing my ways to give her a better life. I regret not being strong enough to survive here and seeing her again. I regret everything, but I don't of meeting Neo._

_This is the end of the road; I'm Roman Torchwick, and I will die alone with no chances to see her ever again._

After reading the note, Quinn understood how much Roman had to endure in order to see Neo once more time. The big guy walked towards the lady and sat next to her, with a sorrowful expression. "I know this is not my concern but, to be honest, I know how you are feeling right now…" Quinn started to feel like his throat was getting dry while trying to talk to her. "…I know how it feels to lose someone dear to you."

Those words made Neo pay attention to him. "There was nothing but a lot of pain, and I'm still feeling it every day. I'm afraid that more people I know will be gone too, but there's nothing I could do about it." Quinn started doing gentle head pats on Neo, trying to comfort her. "But it took me some time to learn about it; Even if they are gone that wouldn't stop me to continue with my life. This guy really cared about you and he would wish it the same thing for you."

The room started to feel warm, as the feelings of sadness were disappearing from that room. Neo was trying to wipe some of the tears off her face. She turned her head towards Quinn with eyes filled with determination. "Let me tell you something, I imagine his spirit won't rest until you do one last thing for him. Do you what I'm referring to?" The lady nodded, as she knew what he was talking about.

"Good, because there's only one way to leave this place: We must kill that Grimm that has been terrorizing your friend for so long." Done talking, they stood up and left the room with the fire on their eyes. Neo wore Roman's hat while holding his cane with the left hand. Quinn was getting his weapon ready with Dust and rockets on his backpack.

They were back at the bridge while standing in front of the door. Their chances to survive the fight were small but still enough to get motivated to take down the Grimm, which it was still waiting outside of the room.

"You know, this Grimm was nothing but trouble for us here. I was thinking a name befitting for such a creature that brings false hopes…" Neo looked at Quinn, with curiosity about what he was referring to. "…I call him the Chimera, and we will make sure it suffers."

Ready to fight, they opened the door with a kick while looking downstairs. They advanced with their weapons in position and looking at an ominous figure coming out of the shadows. It started glowing three pairs of eyes on different places

It showed the snake they fought moments ago with the still fractured jaw as the tail, ahead of a goat with big horns that could pierce anything on its way on top, and finally, the head of a lion stuck on under the goat's head. It was a complete abomination that no one could make another Grimm run in fear of it.

**The Bearer of Misfortune Grimm:**

**The Chimera**


	6. No Silence for the Sinners & Saints

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

“SECOND ROUND, STUPID FREAK!” Quinn yelled at the Chimera as he charged against it for the front. The Grimm tried to ram against him by using its goat’s horns, but the big guy stopped it by holding them. He used some of his Semblance to increase his weight against it.

Neo took the chance and jumped over Quinn to attack the goat’s head directly with her umbrella. She impaled on the left eye, the pain made it react quickly and using the snake’s head to attack Neo. She moved out of the way, making the snake biting the goat by accident.

Sure things were pretty difficult, Quinn did strikes against the lion head but it wasn’t enough to slow it down. The Grimm started to return the attacks back with huge swings with its claws, the big guy blocked the attacks but some of them were sending him to fly across the hallway.

Neo used her Semblance to trick the snake’s head but she was still getting caught as three pairs of eyes were still following her. No matter how many tricks she would use, it can detect both from all angles.

“Just. Die. Now!” Quinn was getting irritated of the situation. “We need some space; I can’t use my explosives in this kind of place.” Quinn grabbed Neo’s arm and started running down the hallway. The Chimera chased them after; it was shooting fireballs at them. “Dammit, this freak can do that too!? That thing is definitely NOT an ordinary Grimm.”

Neo tackled the doors to open another path while Quinn used his weapon to implant some detonators on the walls and floor along the way. The small lady backed him up using Roman’s cane to shoot at the Chimera, slowing it down a little. The monster kept destroying everything on its way until the hallway got smaller the further they went.

Those two arrived at what appeared as a lobby, they moved stuff around to block the door where the Grimm was going through. Already hitting the entrance, they used their backs to hold it and preventing of going inside. Already in position, the big guy pressed the red button on his weapon. *BOOM* Detonating the hallway with the Chimera still in it.

Everything was shaking after the explosion, the big guy decided to get look through the door if the Chimera was dead, with disappointing results. “You have to be fricking kidding me…” He said between teeth, on the crumbles he was able to see the Grimm still moving. It was trying to move everything off it, all the pressure couldn’t let him stand.

“This is great; I don’t know what the hell that thing is made of. That abomination looks like a Manticore without wings and more heads than what it should be.” Quinn started complaining, much how Neo was getting annoyed of hearing him. “None of our weapons can do any damage to it; we need something bigger and potent.”  The aircrafts’ alarm was at full volume, bringing an obnoxious sound that both fugitives were getting tired, especially the big guy.

“The hell with that alarm, I can’t hear my own thoughts.” Neo agreed on his comment, she was covering her ears while still looking at the hallways’ door. “I can’t believe this damn place still has enough power to…” In a brief moment of silence, Quinn started to get into deep thought, as something brought inspiration while doing a huge diabolic grin all over his face.

“That’s it!” He exclaimed in a Eureka moment with the small lady confused of his behavior. “This place still has power; I do remember seeing the reactors being active back at that room.” Quinn began looking at directly to Neo’s eyes firmly. “Listen up, since we can’t damage that thing with explosives or any other conventional projectile, our only solution is to bring that freak of nature to the reactors and BAM! We got one crispy Grimm at the order.”

Neo was really interested on the plan; it was a simple solution but still complicated to perform it. “Tough luck, though. Since the reactors are still damaged, you’ll have to activate them manually. I’ll have to distract it and bring it to the exact point, and for Dust’s sake, don’t try to cook me when I got to that part. Understood?” Neo nodded without questioning anything more, that plan was good AND she wouldn’t need to deal with the Chimera.

The small lady started heading to the control room, leaving Quinn to face the hideous Grimm alone. He was able to hear the door being tackled with monstrous force. _‘Come on, I’m ready for you…’_ He was thinking while holding a strong grip on his weapon and taking deep breathes for the worst.

After three loud tackles, a gap between doors was revealing the Grimm’s claws still trying to get in. It became silence; the creature stopped and started looking at the gap with a mean eye. Its sight was focusing on Quinn as he was standing in the middle of the room with his weapon ready.

The Grimm’s horns pierced the entrance, finally getting into the big room while roaring at the big guy. “Let’s dance.” He grinned while doing the first swing on the lion’s head. The Chimera fought back by trying to bite him but wasn’t enough as Quinn held the open mouth by the fangs. With one hand holding the upper fangs and a foot on the jaw, he transformed his weapon and aimed directly inside the mouth.

It swallowed the missile; Quinn closed the mouth and punched the lion’s head to make it step back away from him. He detonated the missile on its stomach.

*KABOOM*

The Chimera was roaring in pain. While it did a significant chunk of damage, it wasn’t enough to stop it from attacking Quinn. The snake head went after him with speed like a whip; he guarded the attacks and pulled it from the neck like a rubber band. The Grimm started charging with the goat’s head and Quinn started to transform his weapon, with minor inconveniences.

*CLANK*

“Oh for the love… now!?” His weapon got stuck on the middle of the transformation, leaving in a manner that neither can shoot nor hit properly. The handle was right on the middle on such awkward position that became useless. He tried to force it but he didn’t bother anymore since he needed to deal with the Chimera first and not ruining his weapon.

The Grimm did ferocious swings on the big guy, ducking and stepping out of danger. He already was accumulating a lot of energy from blocking its attacks he had to deactivate his Aura for mobility. He couldn’t afford to get hit by it. “This is going to suck.”

* * *

 Neo was still running towards the engine room, jumping and crawling through small spaces. On her way, she briefly stopped while looking at her surroundings. It was quiet; felt that something deep on her mind forgot to recall something important.

Slowly started hearing metal clashing on the floor and walls, single pieces of metals above Neo were falling on her. She moved out of the way, seeing that one last thing has to be exterminated. The metal shreds were combining and growing on each second until forming a humanoid appearance. Neo was looking it from behind, it slowly turned around to see at the small lady.

A Grimm mask was on the humanoid’s face.

It moved on gruesome and aggressive movements by stretching the limbs made of shreds by attacking Neo. It made violent swings on her, only by her using her Semblance to dodge the attack and keep moving. She could notice all the sharp blades surrounding the Geist’s physical body. It was dangerous to fight it and the best option was to get to her objective first.

It started chasing her by just extending its body like a spring with larger length. Neo tried to shoot it with the cane, but the Geist moved the mask on sudden movements that were hard to aim. The Grimm responded with his own attack, throwing blades at her from all directions. She blocked most of them with her umbrella but taking her sight out of the Grimm gave it the advantage to sneak from bellow and wrapping up on Neo’s ankle.

It was painful how every metallic part was stabbing her leg around. She was on agonizing position, yet couldn’t scream. She tried to shoot once more at the Grimm’s mask, but it was still avoiding them. She started bleeding and crawling on the floor while trying to get away from it. The Geist pulled her pack to it making it more painful as how her leg was being cut even more.

Neo started to breathe in and out on an alarming rate; the chill sensation was coming back at her while seeing her cold breath coming out of her mouth. That is when she started noticing something. From the tubes above her, she noticed those were leaking some cold mist out of them. Could it be Ice Dust still on the tubes? She was wondering to herself but already got the idea what to do.

The small lady held the cane and aimed at the tubes, shooting three times and breaking them. All the Ice Dust was sprayed on the Grimm, starting to freeze and getting unable to move. Neo took the chance and freed herself from the monster. Her right leg was badly injured but was better than losing it. She took off her jacket and wrapped around her leg to stop the bleeding. She was out of Aura, needing some time to regenerate it and able to heal herself. Neo tried to examine the Grimm’s body, only to notice that the mask was gone. The Geist escaped again.

It didn’t matter for the moment; she was limping while getting close to the engine room. While opening the door, Neo saw the control panel still active and functioning. Next to it was a wide broken window which was letting her see the reactor still active. She started to adjust the functions and hoping it still can turn on.

 _“Activating reactor, current charge at 0%,”_ The computer said on the usual monotone voice.

Neo sat for a moment to see her injury, looking pretty bad. She took a small jar full of Fire Dust from one of her pockets. It belonged to Quinn; she took it without him noticing. She took off her boot and exposing the wound. By slowly pouring the Dust on her wounds, she was feeling a burning sensation inside on an extremely painful way.

The wound was catalyzing, no longer bleeding but still unable to move fast. _“Charge at 25%”_ Neo heard the computer’s progress. She started thinking of everything that has been happening on the last couple of months: Vale getting destroyed and being overrun by Grimm, getting arrested by Atlas Military, losing Roman, and now probably going to die. Everything up to this point was just for the fault of two people for all calamities on her life: Ruby Rose and Cinder Fall.

If Neo ever gets the chance to make it out of alive, the first thing would be finding some Roman’s contacts at Mistral and getting some payback on those two girls. Of course, her chances of survival were slim to none.

Neo started to hear noises outside of the window, as some sort of stampede was heading towards the reactor. She tried to stand and see what was going on, only seeing some crumbles falling.

She saw a big figure falling from the ceiling, landing in front of the reactor. “Stop moving!” Neo recognized the voice, certain brute was yelling at full volume. “Stay still, you damn freak!” Quinn was riding the Chimera by holding the horns with one hand and the snake’s head with the other.

Neo wasn’t able to feel but amusement as for how hard to understand the situation. The Chimera went against a wall, trying to get Quinn off its back. The big guy activated his Aura to block that damage and using his own weight to slow down the Grimm. Even though, he lost some balance and fell to the ground.

The Chimera had still enough will to fight more despite who much it endured with a single person for so long.

“Neo! Can you hear me!?” Quinn shouted at her, trying to confirm if she was still on the controls. “Whatever if you are there or not, try to press the button when is at full charge! I will keep him busy as much as possible until then!” Quinn rolled when the Chimera ramped against him.

He used his weapon despite malfunctioning, on the way he was handling on an upside down that resembled as a tonfa. Every blow Quinn landed on the Grimm was fast and bone-crushing, it felt practical than swinging it like he always did as he tried to use boxing. “Huh, neat.” The big guy said while admiring the results, but still not useful due how the weapon was still broken.

 _“Charge at 50%”_ The computer kept telling the reactor’s progress. Neo backed up Quinn by shooting the Chimera with the cane. It tried to defend itself with the snake’s head; the small lady took cover under the control panel while avoiding bites. The lion’s head was shooting fireballs from its mouth; Quinn had to activate his Semblance to block them.

It wasn’t enough for the Chimera; it ramped against him once more by leaving him unable to react quickly. Quinn used his on weight to stop the Grimm by holding its horns. Despite having the same kind of force, the Chimera was still able to drag Quinn against a wall. “I’m getting tired of this crap, give me some space dammit!” While still between the wall and the Grimm, Quinn put his foot over the goat’s head and still holding the horns.

His Aura started to glow as the surrounding was getting heavier to a point that the Chimera was trying to backing off. “Get wasted!” Quinn finally unleashed full charge which not only sent the Chimera away from him but also ripping off the horns. The big guy was finally able to move properly, he rushed against the Grimm and impaled both horns on the lion’s eyes. It screamed in pain, completely blind but still relentless.

 _“Charge at 75%”_ They could feel how the reactor was almost getting to its maximum power. While Neo was shooting at the Chimera, some of the hanging cables inside the room were moving towards her. On a flash, two cables were wrapping around Neo’s neck as trying to choke her. She was looking behind her only to notice a Grimm mask on the wall.

The Geist was still not done to kill her; she tried to reach her umbrella to free herself again. Her arms were too short to reach it; things were getting worse to those two each second. She wasn’t able to reach to control panel either, and things will go worse if she can’t do that.

 _“Charge at 80%.”_ Their time is almost reaching its limit; they can’t afford to stay much longer if the reactor gets to the final stage. Neo tried to see her surroundings for a quick way to kill the Geist. The cane was the only thing that could save her but still far from her. Neo tried to resist the cables by slowly pulling them while reaching the cane.

“Ugh, what a pain…” Meanwhile, Quinn still had to deal with his own problems too. He already knew that fighting alone against the Chimera was a bad idea. All his reserves of Aura were almost reaching zero and not even his Semblance could help him to defend more. The Grimm attacked with the snake’s head once more like whip, leaving the big guy on his knees.

He was on a corner badly beaten with a mean streak. The Grimm won’t let him leave the room when the engine would be at full charge. Both people are struggling to deal with two different Grimm at the same time. The Chimera leaped towards Quinn, trying to eat him whole while Neo was trying to reach the cane.

 _“Charge Complete, Warning: Reactor Overheating.”_ From the sound of it, Neo and Quinn knew they had almost less than a minute, unless they want the whole place to blow up. Quinn was thinking while holding the Chimera’s mouth with nowhere to escape. Nothing on his mind could come up with a good idea, except one. “I’m going to hate myself on the morning for this.”

He launched himself inside the Chimera’s mouth, letting himself eaten as a whole. It looked like a suicidal tactic that no sane man could think about.

Neo kicked the cane, shooting by itself on one of the cables that almost landed to her neck. She finally got free and pressed the button on the control panel, making the engine to release a ginormous blast on both places.

The Chimera was being burned alive because it was at the center of the room while the rest of the fire went to the controls where Neo was. She took cover under the panel while the Geist was being destroyed as well. Both Grimm was suffering a slow death as the flames were engulfing the whole area with Neo avoiding it and Quinn still inside the Chimera.

**Chimera: Fried to Nothingness.**

After several minutes of agonizing heat, the Grimm vanished into black smoke when the reactor turned off, with Quinn still painfully intact. The place was under heat with hot steel all over the place. He tried to get back on his feet while looking the aftermath. “Well…it went quite messier than expected. Neo! Are you still alive!?” Quinn yelled, hoping a response even if he knew she was a mute.

Through the window, he was able to get faint noises. The big guy rushed to there and jumped to get inside. There were a crumbles above the controls, he moved them out of the way as fast he could. “Come on, you can’t die on me now…!” He was desperate; the last thing he would do was to pray if she was still alive.

One by one, he started to see her underneath but incapable to move. After removing carefully all the metal above her, Quinn was able to free Neo but her eyes were shut. “Oh please, don’t die on me dammit!” Quinn started to check her pulse, there was but she wasn’t breathing.

 He procced to do CPR without exceeding his own strength, it was a delicate process to expulse all smoke from her lungs. For a moment he hesitated to do mouth to mouth process, but it wasn’t the time or place to complain. After every tragedy and conflict, he wouldn’t lose a life again as long as Quinn was still alive.

Neo started to slowly open her eyes and breathe properly as she coughed uncontrollably. “Oh crap…I…I thought you…you…were…” As Quinn tried to find the proper words, Neo was touching her lips, as she felt an odd sensation. She looked directly at the big guy with an angry look and punched him on the jaw. “Owww, what the hell was that!?  Is this how you thank me for saving your!? Damn, it hurts.” The big guy was holding his jaw, annoyed of how things were for him.

Despite punching him, Neo was absolutely not mad at him, partially. She started hugging him after everything they went. She got did nothing but crying, something Quinn cracked a smile. Of course, after a whole minute holding his arm, he tried to take her off him. “Alright that’s enough, I know we are alive but could you stop? We must leave this place now.” The small lady did what he was telling to her. She let his arm go, but was unable to stand on her own.

“Your leg, it looks like crap.” Neo frowned as how insensitive his comment was. “Let me help you then.” He let her climb on his back, doing a piggyback ride. She got her arms over his shoulders while holding both of her weapons. Quinn got his weapon on the left hip while carrying the light-weighted lady. He walked outside of the room, going to the empty hallways inside the airship.  

The place was finally quiet, no more Grimm trying to hunt them. They were able to feel fresh air coming ahead of them. Quinn didn’t stop rushing towards the exit he saw a small crack on a wall. There was some light from outside and the crack looked fragile enough to make an opening. He putted Neo down for a moment and started punching it with all his might. Each strike makes the crack bigger until the last punch finally created an exit. They were free at last.

“Fresh air, can you feel smell it? After almost a goddamn week, we are out of the cage!” Quinn stretched his arms while admiring the forest. They were far from the city of Vale, still on ruins from certain parts. People were still living there after the Fall of Beacon months ago. Quinn helped Neo to sit over a rock while trying to treat her leg with medicine and bandages. “If doesn’t look good, tough luck because I’m not a fricking medic.”

After a couple of minutes of trying healing her, Neo’s leg was feeling much better. She tried to stand for herself but lost balance rather quickly. Still needing more time to recover for both of them, they would need to get some supplies and new clothes from the closest town. Quinn sat on the ground, looking at the sky with satisfactory expression; it was weird for the small lady seeing that brute smiling. “What are you looking at?” That was short lived.

“So, what are you going to do now that we are free? I doubt you have anything to do here.” Quinn asked to Neo, she replied by pointing to the big guy. “What? Oh no no no no, no, alright? I won’t let you come with me at Mistral, understood?” No matter how much he refused, she started making puppy eyes. He tried to ignore her, but it was useless as that remind him of someone with the same look.

“Screw it, whatever, do whatever you please. Mark my words; we are going to travel together until we set foot on the continent of Anima. After that, each one of us will take different paths.” Neo nodded without any objection. Quinn let the lady climb on his back again for another piggyback ride, they went east on an empty road while getting away from Vale.

While traveling, Quinn started looking out of the distance a huge tower, said tower was what left of Beacon Academy with the Dragon Grimm still petrified. Neither Quinn nor Neo could understand how that monster ended up like that. One thing for sure, its presence was the only reason other types of Grimm kept surrounding the area. Who or whatever caused that sure must be the most dangerous being in Remnant.

* * *

 Meanwhile, somewhere on the woods without able to pinpoint the exact location, a young man with a black cowboy hat stopped on the middle of the road. He turned his head to look what has behind him; there was nothing on the road. “Is everything alright?” A girl with long red hair and green eyes asked to the guy. They were accompanied with a husky between them, as she was barking and moving the tail.

“It’s nothing, just my imagination.” The guy said as it was nothing, but he felt like someone was following them. They kept walking while carrying backpacks and cases. The dog was barking while going ahead of them as she was guiding them.

 The tree leaves were flying in the direction of the wind. On the tree branches, there was a mysterious figure hiding among the woods. This person was wearing pure white clothes and a gas mask resembling a plague doctor. Whoever the figure was, nothing good will come on the future for the travelers.

To be continued, on _Through the Dark Road_ …

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the story, as it will help me to use different kind of genres and themes for each I'm writing something.


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